What You're Runnin' From
by Eldri
Summary: Nova ended up on Pandora more or less by coincidence and she hasn't managed to save up enough to get to some other, nicer place in 10 years. When she ends up getting captured by bandits and is (accidentally) freed by a sniper with a bird, she starts to take a liking towards the hostile planet. (OC x Mordecai)
1. Prologue

AN: I know OCs are often cringy and I'm 21 and married and should be over this phase in my life, but goddamnit. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. I'm trying. I hope you enjoy the story anyways. :)

AN #2: This is it. This is the revised edition. I have put songs at the beginning of each chapter, you can either ignore them or listen to them, whatever you want. There is also a Spotify playlist where I have gathered all of them (the kind of music is wildly different, because the music I listen to is wildly different as well).

Here is the link: playlist/2H72Wx3m8E3UEd1ogNGfsc?si=VGzF6WR4SnyuSo4h8vulnA

Now, without further ado: Have fun!

* * *

 _song: Sedaa - Tal_

I pulled the scarf in front of my face just in time, before the hot winds of Pandora could blow a shit ton of sand in my mouth. I really should be wearing a full face scarf all the time, but as I said - the winds on Pandora are fucking hot. And I was already half-dying without more sticky clothes. And without sand in my mouth or my anything for that matter. It was days like these when I wished for some nice, clean water to soak in on this absolute shit hole.

Also, what was it with bandits never being on time for anything? Every single time I made a deal with them they were late for the exchange. It was just ridiculous at this point. As if I had nothing else to do. Well, truth be told, I didn't have anything else to do, really. Not since most people had left Pandora ages ago and since most of the bandit clans had settled in more or less peacefully.

It was easy to get by just after Dahl had left. Everyone wanted everyone dead, so doing the odd contract kill and selling some explosives here and there was pretty profitable. But things had started settling down and I was making less and less cash, which meant I was probably damned to die on Pandora. Which was just great, because who didn't want to die out here?

I could still do some odd jobs here and there for several bandit gangs, but they were getting really sparse and the supplies to the planet were getting few and far between. I had barely any decent food left (except skag meat, but that was what I was eating almost every day by now) and my coffee supplies were running low as well.

Still better than being enslaved by any of the big corporations in my opinion, no matter how much I despised the bandits. A job was a job and as long as I got paid, I didn't really care where the money came from. So here I was, with a bunch of explosives, stacked up in a neat pile, out in the damn desert, waiting to rendezvous with a group of bandits, so I could finally get my damn money.

I squinted into the distance, thinking I had heard some sort of noise. I automatically had my hand on my revolver. It wasn't my favorite kind of gun, but it was fairly handy and easy to conceal, especially for meet-ups like this. I normally preferred shotguns and sniper rifles, but well. This and the submachine gun holstered on my other side would have to do today.

I had been armed to the teeth for my first few jobs, but over time, I got a little more trusting. A lot of these people were scientists, engineers or just some poor sods left behind by Dahl and Atlas. Maybe I was getting careless, but I liked to think that me and the bandits had some sort of secret agreement not to double cross each other. The more I thought about it, the dumber it sounded in my head, actually.

I saw some figures approaching in the distance. Looked like it was them, alright. I really hoped the exchange would go smoothly, especially since I had started to rethink my decision to trust them. I had my car parked a little further away and while I was a decent runner, I was by no means great at it. I was good at running long distances, but it wasn't like I was especially fast.

Then again leaving the car close to the bandit camp would have been a bad idea as well. Hell, my whole life up until that point was a bad idea, but that was a story for another day. I concluded that there was no perfect solution for the car dilemma and left it at that. I squinted against the sun.

The group of bandits came closer, heavily armored and at a reckless speed of course. I really didn't like them, but I couldn't be too picky when it came to making money. Not on Pandora. This planet was bad enough without me making things more difficult for myself. Too bad it was the only place I could afford at the time I moved. But well, I was determined to make the best of it, until I could leave this desert wasteland far far behind me. If... When I saved up enough money to leave.

I put on a sly smile as the bandit leader approached me slowly with a big grin on his face. God, I really didn't like doing business with them.

"You got the stuff?" he asked. I nodded.

"Three C-Charges, 25 pipe bombs and two large propane bombs with a timer." I replied and nodded to a bunch of containers leaning against some rocks and covered up with some light-coloured material. Obviously I'd blow them up if they tried to scam me on this, but they didn't know. Their leader nodded to one of his minions to go over and check. The guy weasled over there and took a look under the covers. He probably had no clue what the hell he was doing.

"All there!" he shouted over at the leader. He looked at me with his big, ugly grin again.

"Good girl. Now about your payment..." he said. I still had my hand on my revolver. If they were trying anything I'd have them mowed down within seconds. Or at least I was telling myself that.

That was when I felt something hard hit my head and everything went black.


	2. Chapter 1 or How To Escape a Bandit Camp

_song: The Kills - Hard Habit To Break_

I woke up to a severe headache and my throat feeling dry and raspy. I was sweating and there was some horrible stench coming from somewhere - quite possibly me. I felt incredibly sick as soon as I opened my eyes and stared directly into the blazing sun above me.

I quickly moved to the side and started dry-heaving. I threw up some small bits, but in all fairness I didn't have enough in my stomach to properly throw up. I felt dizzy from all the movement and my vision blurred for a second. I could feel myself sweating more. With closed eyes I tried analyzing exactly how bad I was feeling, while I was breathing heavily and gasping.

I was in a lot of pain. Basically all my limbs hurt. Plus my nose. My jaw was terribly sore. Felt like I got a good old beating. I groaned and slowly opened my eyes. Looked like I was in some sort of cage. Out in the blazing sun. And worst of all, I had sand in my mouth. Okay, what the hell happened here?

I remembered delivering the explosives for some bandit group and... oh dear. That was the last thing I remembered. I looked around quickly and indeed spotted a few bandits scurrying around the place. Great. Just wonderful. I'd go down in history as being stupid enough to fall for a bandit trick. In all honesty, it was pretty stupid not to watch my back. Not as if I had any means to do so, but still. I had always kind of been a dumbass and this just proved it further.

I looked at my surroundings a bit more. I was behind bars, in some sort of cage, probably the only thing the bandits had at hand. Some of them were walking around the camp, just being lazy. I could see my stack of explosives standing in the shade halfway across the camp. It was making me kind of angry that I spent a lot of work on those and I made an actual effort to deliver a high quality explosive, just for all that to stand around. It was then that I realised I might still have the remote trigger on me.

After all, I was in the same clothes I was wearing back then. Looked like they hadn't bothered to search me. I quickly reached for the little radio device and let out a sigh of relief when I felt it in my pocket, just where I left it. It seemed like all they had taken were my two crappiest guns. Not nice, but also not a huge loss.

Now I just needed to get out of here somehow. And that sounded easier than it was. I could just blow up all the stuff, but that would at best kill most of the bandits and leave me in this cage at the mercy of the rest of them. They'd know I was the person who blew their shit up.

My good mood and my initial excitement were fading. It really looked like I had the trigger for a large amount of (high quality) explosives in my hand and was still fucked. Shit. Maybe if I could somehow get to whoever had the keys to this thing and blow up the stash simultaneously, I could free myself and make a run for it. It would still be up to pure luck how far I'd get and me being able to run far enough was questionable at most, but it might be worth a try.

"Ey, you awake, pretty thing?" someone roared. I turned my head and saw a big muscly shirtless guy standing next to my cage. Probably a bruiser. Shit. This was getting worse and worse.

"Yeah, I'd appreciate a drink, if you have one." I answered, trying my best to muster up a charming smile. Let's face it: I had been out in the blazing sun for at least a few hours already and I didn't feel great. Some water would help hugely and would improve my chances of running off when the time came. And flirting with the bruiser would increase my chances of getting some water. Sometimes, I really hated myself for being who I was as a person.

"What do I get for that?" he said with a big disgusting grin on his face. Ugh. Of course. Of course he'd pick up on that. Well, I had started it, guess I'd just have to play along for now. I really wanted some water.

"Well... I'll have to see what I can do for you, when you get back. We can have a good time..." I purred. I felt like I was going to throw up in my mouth, especially when he came closer and I could actually smell him. Yikes.

"Or we can have a good time now." he said, dangling the keys in front of my eyes. Great. There was probably no way I was going to get out of this. I could try to suckerpunch him once he opened the cage and make a run for it, but it was highly unlikely I'd punch him hard enough and get past him fast enough. He was a bruiser. I was fairly scrawny and could barely hold a rocket launcher.

Anyways, I could at least attempt it. I faked another smile as he opened the door and quickly looked around my little cage. There didn't seem to be anything I could hit him with, so my plain old fists would have to do. Maybe he'd murder me quickly then. Maybe I'd break my fingers one by one and would never be able to make explosives again. Or hold a gun. Who knew.

He stepped towards me slowly with an even bigger grin on his face. From somewhere in the background I could hear a psycho scream about STRIPPING THE FLESH and SALTING THE WOUND. For some reason that gave me a bit of comfort. Things were still kind of as shitty as they'd always been on Pandora. And hey, if I was going to die here, at least those were the last words I'd hear. Without even noticing it, I was taking small steps back as the bruiser was coming closer. I was backing away from him until I felt the metal cage against my back.

"Why are you trying to get away, hm? There is no getting away." the bruiser growled. I wrinkled my nose as he got closer. I mean, I was used to people on Pandora not smelling great, since there was fairly little water that was okay to drink or wash yourself with, but this man stank. I figured this would be as good an opportunity as any to try my luck with getting out. I took a deep breath and charged at him, trying to land a hard punch on his throat.

Unfortunately for me, he seemed to have very good reflexes, because he instantly grabbed my arm by the wrist and held it up in the air. I sighed quietly, as I squeezed my eyes shut, expecting whatever beating he had in store for me. At this stage, I had given up. And I already knew that I had little to no chance of defeating this guy, even before I tried escaping.

"You little slut, you think you can get a-"

He had stopped talking suddenly and I felt something warm and wet on my head. I only now realized my eyes were still squeezed shut. I opened them just in time to see him fall over with blood coming out of his mouth, and to jump aside before he could squish me under him.

There was a big wound in the back of his head. This man was dead and never coming back. Which was good, in a way. I looked around, but couldn't see anyone waving a gun around. Someone must have sniped him from pretty far away and I was probably in that mysterious sniper's sights right now. Fuck.

For a second I panicked, not knowing what to do. But then I saw a lot of the approaching bandits being taken out - most of them with one shot and relatively quickly. And I still hadn't been shot at. This was my chance. I fumbled in my pocket for the detonator and pressed it quickly.

It took maybe a split second, before my whole stash blew up big time. Wow. I would have stood there and admired the carnage that ensued, but I realized there was no time for that. There was still a good chance Mr. Sniper was going to shoot me, so I was legging it out of there.

I barely remembered to run in a zig-zag pattern to avoid being an easy target. I had no intention of falling prey to this unknown sniper. He might have saved me back there, but I was pretty sure that was unintentional. I was quickly considering grabbing my guns and some cash on the way out, but I supposed it was safer not to do that just now. After all, I had no idea what that sniper was after or who he was. Plus, those guns were kinda shit anyways.

Just as I had almost made it out of the bandit camp, I saw something blocking out the sun from above me. I stopped (stupid move, I know) and looked up only to see some sort of massive bird dive down towards me.

"Holy shit!", I screeched and jumped out of the way behind some crates. That bird could have surely ended me. What the hell. That thing could have taken my head off in one swift move! If I hadn't been as dehydrated as I was, I likely would have pissed my pants.

Lying behind the crates I just looked up and tried to catch my breath. I knew of rakk, but this wasn't a rakk. I was pretty sure I had never seen anything like that thing on Pandora before and I have been stuck here for about 10 years already.

"You're lucky Blood didn't get you. Give me a good reason why I shouldn't kill you." someone beside me said. I jumped a little and sat upright. I hadn't even noticed that there was someone hiding.

I saw a tall, thin man lying behind the crates, looking through the scope of a sniper rifle and seemingly not paying much attention to me. Holy fuck. So that was the guy who was sniping all those bandits?

"I'm waiting.", he said calmly, not even looking at me. Waiting? Oh yeah. For a reason why he shouldn't shoot me. In fact, that was a very good question and I was surprised I wasn't dead yet.

"Uhm..."

"Not convincing, man."

"Well, you did see that they had me locked up, right? I mean, I guess, I'm all on your side. If you take them all out, I won't have to worry about them trying to get me again.", I replied, realizing what a weak case I was making for myself. I quickly checked him out: long black dreadlocks tied up in a ponytail, a protective leather mask, goggles, a sword on his back, cargo pants and combat boots. He didn't seem like the type to let me go in exchange for a quick fling. I was running out of options here.

"Why'd they have you locked up?" he wanted to know, still not looking at me. Something in his voice was getting to me. It was weird.

"I don't know. I suppose they didn't wanna pay me for my explosives and would rather keep me around? So I could make more in exchange for not being killed? Just a wild guess."

He calmly put his sniper rifle away, taking his time to take out the ammunition and put it on his back. He reached for the holster around his leg and aimed a pistol at me. I scurried back a little, realizing I would only bump into another crate and make myself look even more suspicious.

"You workin' for them?" he asked.

"Shit, no!" I replied panicked. Well, actually I kinda was working for them, but it wasn't like I was part of their little clan.

"Then why'd you sell 'em explosives?"

"Well, did you take a look at this planet? Since Dahl and Atlas left, making money was kinda hard. I'm constantly strapped for cash, man. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.", I replied. I heard him snicker to himself a little and prayed he wasn't happy that he'd get to kill me soon. He held out his arm and put his pistol away. I sighed with relief, until I saw that bird, that I had just narrowly escaped from earlier, landing on his arm. Its beak was covered in blood and other... things. I didn't even want to know what they were. I mean, here I was, hoping for a quick bullet to the head, but I guess I'd be eaten alive or something instead.

He smiled at the bird and rubbed his nose against its beak, scratching it's feathers carefully and whispering to it. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but the bird screeched happily and hopped on his shoulder. I couldn't stop looking at the bits of blood that were now on Mr. Sniper's nose.

"So were the explosives that went off yours?" he asked. I nodded quickly, not without being a little proud of myself.

"Shit, that was a nice job. Too bad it went off."

"Yeah, well, that was kinda my fault. I had a detonator that they apparently didn't find on me, so I blew all of it up as a distraction, so I could make it away from them. Guess, I'm not getting paid anymore, but at least I'm alive, so... yay."

"Man, sorry 'bout that. That sucks. But hey, that blast helped me a lot, so I guess go and get your payment from whatever stuff you find around here. They usually have a ton of cash and they're so easy to take out. So yeah, help yourself to some cash, I suppose." he said.

"For real, dude?"

"Yeah, sure. Just leave enough for me. And if you find any canned meat, Bloodwing here would appreciate it."


	3. Chapter 2 or Mordecai The Hunter

_song: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Beat The Devil's Tattoo_

By the time we were done looting the place, it was already dark. I really hoped my car was okay and I hoped it wouldn't be too far from here. I had found my old ECHO device at least, so I could check a map once I could get it to work.

I managed to get some sort of reaction from my ECHO device which was good. There might be enough power left to use the map and get back to the car. Walking back to the Middle of Nowhere would be a huge bummer, especially while carrying a whole lot of cash and some heavy guns. But knowing the bandits, I'd probably have to get a new car, because they would have either stolen my old one or blown it up or wrecked it. If that was the case, maybe Mr. Friendly Sniper could give me a ride or something. At least to the closest Catch-A-Ride.

Speaking of, he was not leaving anything behind. He literally checked every little corner of the bandit camp for any amount of cash. He picked up small change, for goodness' sake! Not even I was that patient. It was fascinating to watch him, however. He had a nice way of moving around the place.

"You got everything you need, chica?" he shouted across the camp as he made his way back over to me. He was carrying a shit ton of guns and shields and whatnot and I was surprised that he didn't break down beneath the weight of all those guns, considering how thin he looked.

"Uh... yeah, I think so."

"Nice. What'd you get?"

I held up a handgun and an SMG that I got as a replacement for the two crappy guns the bandits took. I also found both a nice sniper rifle that seemed to be better than the one I had at home. If it wasn't actually better, I could always sell it. I also got enough cash to cover the expenses for my explosives, but I didn't really want to carry unnecessary money around with me.

"That all?", Mr. Sniper asked incredulously. I shrugged.

"Yeah, guess so."

"Girl, what is wrong with you? The camp's full of stuff! Take anything you can carry! Ain't no reason to hold back."

"I dunno, I guess I just got what I really needed. Why do you care?"

I didn't get an answer. All I heard was some mumbling and the noise of Mr. Sniper going through all his guns. After a while he finally seemed to have found what he was looking for - a fairly nice looking machine gun. In one smooth motion he pulled it out from underneath the pile of guns and threw it at me. He almost hit me on the head with it, because I was too busy watching him balancing all the other guns in his arms. I awkwardly caught it just in time.

"Take that and sell it. I don't use machine guns anyways, but it should make a pretty decent profit. You shouldn't be working for those bandit clans, girl. It's dangerous." he said, a shit-eating grin on his face. For some reason this just really ticked me off. I knew I was stupid to trust them, I didn't need anyone to tell me straight to my face. Definitely not a scrawny long guy.

"Fuck you, I can take care of myself." I replied. He nodded, still grinning that infuriating grin.

"Mh-hmm. I saw that."

Normally I would have been mad beyond believe, but somehow the way he said that just made me laugh. I mean, he was right. I just admitted to myself that he was right. The thing I pulled just there? Yeah, that wasn't my greatest performance. Not by a long shot. And he had saved my ass, so maybe I should try not to be a bitch. Plus, I kinda liked him. He seemed nice enough.

"Yeah, well, that wasn't my proudest moment. Thanks for the gun, though. Appreciate it." I answered.

"You got any way to get back to wherever you live?" he asked.

"Well, I did have a car, I just don't know whether it's still where I left it. I kinda doubt it. I've been trying to get the map on my ECHO device to work, so I know how far away we are. How did you get here?" I replied.

"Got a Catch-A-Ride, but that kinda blew up, so... How about we go looking for your car? There's probably another Catch-A-Ride in that direction."

"Seems to be our only option. Off we go then." I sighed.

"You got the map?"

"Sort of. It seems we're actually pretty close, like a 10 minute walk. If that thing is still working properly, that is."

"Well, we'll see when we get there, won't we? I mean, I didn't really see those bandits having a car we could steal or anything, otherwise we could have just taken that one, but..."

"Well, shit. I mean, you probably didn't notice, but when you blew up your little stash back there, you also blew up the one car those scumbags owned."

"Of fucking course. Well, I was more looking out for my life, to be honest. Don't need a car, if I'm dead, after all. Why were you even out here fighting bandits? Seems kinda odd, especially on your own like that."

"I was mostly out for the loot. And... uh... something."

"Something?"

"A key. Or rather a piece of a key."

"A key...? Wait a second, you're not one of them Vault Hunters, are you?"

"I am."

I burst out laughing. That was rich. I hadn't seen any Vault Hunters out here for years. I mean, all the bandits and a lot of the people living here seemed to believe in the Vault, but I mean... they were _bandits_. They weren't really the sharpest tools in the shed. I figured people from other planets had forgotten about all those stories, too.

But here was Mr. Sniper, telling me he was looking for it. He had to be joking. He just had to be. His expression was stern and he wasn't laughing. He wasn't even grinning. My expression turned serious, too. Was he saying he was looking for the Vault... for real? For _real_ real?

"Do you actually believe it exists? I always thought that thing was a big myth. You know. One that bandits believe in."

The sniper just shrugged and sighed. He probably had gotten somewhat bewildered reactions if he had met any reasonable people out here yet.

"Well, I don't know if it exists, but I have nothing better to do with my life anyways, so I guess it doesn't really matter."

"Fair enough." I replied. That seemed like a good enough reason for me. I mean, I was stuck here because I had no money left to get away and no means to get enough money. Not with the amounts I had to spend on ammunition simply to survive.

I looked around me. This area seemed familiar. There were some rocks and... there was my scarf! The one I had wrapped around my head, so I wouldn't eat sand. It was stuck on some rocks.

"Give me a second, I think we're close." I said and ran over to the scarf. I curiously peeked around the corner of the little rock formation. It was still there. My beautiful lady was still there. (Okay, it was more of a muddy, dusty shit jeep, but still.)

With a big smile on my face I jumped into the driver's seat and started up the engine. It purred like it was new. I grinned from ear to ear. I was so happy to have my car back. I was so glad it was working perfectly. This was probably one of the best days of my life. I relished my feeling of relief and gratefulness until I remembered that Mr. Sniper was waiting for me. I carefully drove around the rock formation, stopping the car next to him without turning the engine off.

"Looks like you're alright for getting home, hm?", he said.

"Yep.", I answered.

"Neat. Get home safe then and stay away from those bandits, alright?" he replied and turned around, walking off into the distance.

"Hey, wait a second!"

I don't even know why I had said that. Yeah, I kinda liked him, but he was some dude looking for a myth. He'd probably die within the next few weeks. But he had been really good to me and I felt I owed him.

He turned back around and looked at me expectantly. God, I had never in my life felt this awkward. This was the weirdest thing ever. I was usually the one getting favours from others, I don't think I ever offered anyone a lift. Like, for free.

"Do you want a lift or something? I can get you to the Middle of Nowhere and you can stay in my spare room, if you want. Or you can get the fast travel station." I offered. He looked at me a little confused.

"Why would you do that for me?" he asked slowly. I shrugged again.

"You seem like a nice guy. I mean, you didn't kill me and you actually saved me from those bandits, even though it was unintentional. And since I'm going home anyways, why shouldn't I give you a ride?"

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

He shrugged and started walking back towards my car. It took him a while to throw all his guns in the back. He quickly climbed into the seat next to me and again I was fascinated by the way he moved.

"Thanks, chica." he said quietly, almost as if he was slightly embarrassed to accept help from someone.

"I'm Nova, by the way." I said. I figured since we were like besties now, I could tell him my name.

"Mordecai."

"Nice to meet you, Mordecai." I replied. He hummed in response.

"So where do you live, man? Maybe it's even on the way or something and I can drop you off." I said.

"I don't think there's really a place I'd call home, but I usually stay in a container outside of New Haven if I'm not on the road."

"New Haven, huh? Was dating a guy there for a while. It's a nice little town, but jeez, the water supply is unstable." I replied. I cringed a little when I remembered going out with Scooter. He was a nice guy most of the time, but damn, could he be annoying at times. Not to mention his multiple affairs.

"Yeah, I guess. It's alright. But there are probably way better places on this planet." he answered. I huffed and muttered "There better be."

"Hey, man, thanks for giving me a lift. I don't wanna be annoying or anything, but you offered a spare room...?" he asked. I nodded.

"It's gonna be all yours for the night. And I'm gonna treat you for the best coffee on Pandora in the morning as well. Because we're besties now and all."


	4. Chapter 3 or The Best Coffee On Pandora

_song: The Black Keys - Gold On The Ceiling_

I was woken up way too early by the sun shining brightly into my window. I turned around with a groan and tried to go back to sleep, but it was no use. Once I was awake, there was no way I could go back. And I also just couldn't get into a comfortable position anymore. Didn't it always go that way?

I sighed and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. Another day on this hellish planet. Yay. I rubbed my eyes and got up, letting my eyes wander over my floordrobe. I picked up some pants and a shirt from the floor.

While I was putting them on, I went through a million things in my head: I should have waited a little longer before leaving home, no matter how annoyed I was at my parents. I should have taken that awful job with S&S Munitions, instead of doing odd jobs on Aquator. I should have saved up a little more and not gone to the only place I could afford - which was Pandora at the time. I shouldn't have moved to the east coast of Pandora. And then I shouldn't have moved to the fucking Middle of Nowhere.

As I rambled on in my mind and sleepily stumbled out of my room and into my kitchen, my thoughts were interrupted by a demanding caw. I startled and looked around me. What the hell was that? When I saw a fairly large bird sitting on my kitchen table, I remembered. The sniper and his bird. Right.

I wasn't exactly scared of birds or this bird in particular, but let's say I had a fairly healthy amount of respect for him. I had seen how this bird ripped people apart and I had no idea how friendly he was towards strangers when Mordecai wasn't around. There was just one problem. How would I get past Bloodwing, so I could get to the kitchen? I was really hungry and I really needed a coffee. I looked around the room to see if I might find something to distract the bird and give me some time to sneak into the kitchen and get some food cooking.

But, lucky as I usually was, I managed to spot a can with meat of some description. I honestly wasn't sure what exactly it was, but I was almost certain that it should do. I slowly moved over to the shelf the can was standing on, constantly keeping my eyes on Bloodwing. He, too, kept watching me closely, as I moved around the room, ready to bolt away any second. I was really nervous when I turned my back to get to the can, expecting to be torn apart any second.

I got the can, I opened it and nothing happened. Bloodwing was just staring at me a little more excited than before. I sure hoped he wasn't going to bite off my hand, as I emptied the can onto the floor far away from the kitchen and the kitchen table, hoping Bloodwing would enjoy his breakfast.

While I was emptying the can, the bird slowly hopped closer to me and once all the meat was on the floor I made a run for it and jumped over the kitchen counter. This is where I was going to stay until Mordecai would wake up (whenever that might be - it was _late_ ). At least that gave me some time to make coffee and a nice, decent breakfast. It was probably more of a lunch at this point.

That's what I technically was doing for a living - running a diner and hostel of sorts. When I first came to Pandora it seemed like a neat idea - a place for people who were passing through to either catch up on some sleep for little money or to have some food and the best fucking coffee in the Middle of Nowhere.

I was convinced that it was actually the best coffee in all of Pandora, but I figured that I didn't want to brag too much. But alas, there were few people coming through since the bounty board stopped working (and that idiot responsible for it wouldn't let me fix it) and since some bandit gangs had settled around here. So I sort of had to resort to more risky businesses.

Mordecai was the first person to pass through in a long time and even though I wouldn't make any money off him, he might be coming back if I put in some effort. And he might bring other vault hunters as well which meant I could possibly rely more on my actual business than on shady contract kills and explosives deals. I was slowly getting too old for that sort of stuff. But then again, I kept telling myself I was getting old since I turned 20 and I was still out and about.

I got a pan and a coffee machine out of one of the cupboards and started cooking away. I had learned how to get food on Pandora rather quickly, since deliveries were usually very unstable and you couldn't really rely on them. I was growing a few vegetables in my backyard, but they were very dependent on the weather and the water supply. That's why I usually went out during the day to hunt some skags and get some mushrooms and rakk eggs. That is, when I wasn't busy building bombs for bandits.

It was really difficult to find some decent coffee, but I usually loaded the whole car full of coffee during visits to the Highlands and places like that. That's where some more people were left and thus, more supplies came through. Whenever I went there the coffee would last me for at least half a year to a year. And the coffee they had there was quite good, I had to admit. I never had anything like that on my home planet and I was addicted to coffee back there.

"Whatcha cooking?" I suddenly heard a voice behind me. I got a fright and turned around quickly, a large chef knife in my hand. Again, I had completely forgotten that I had a guest staying here.

"Jeez, you scared me. Did you sleep alright? I know it's not fancy, but what really is fancy on Pandora?" I replied, putting down my knife.

"Slept alright. I see Blood got a little treat already this morning.", Mordecai answered, smiling a little and sauntering over to the bird that cawed happily.

"Yeah, I wasn't sure if he'd eat me if I tried to get past him, so I figured I'd distract him. And make him a little less hungry."

"He probably wouldn't eat you. If you're not threatening him, he should be peaceful. Only attacks when I tell him to or if he feels unsafe."

"Ah, well, I guess I at least made him happy then."

Mordecai sat down beside Bloodwing and gently rubbed his neck. He made some happy noises and hopped on his shoulder.

"He seems to be very happy. He might even let you pet him, if you're careful.", he said and walked over to the kitchen counter. I wasn't so sure about that. He seemed like a lovely bird, but he had already almost attacked me once and I saw what he could do to people he didn't like. As I said, I had some healthy respect for that bird.

"What's the worst that could happen?" I asked shyly.

"He might peck your hand or something. It'll only hurt a little, if at all."

"Okay..." I said and slowly approached the bird. He looked at me funny as I reached out to pet him. I looked up at Mordecai who kept a close look at Bloodwing. I sure hoped he wouldn't take any of my body parts off.

"Easy, boy..." Mordecai whispered to him. He didn't seem too happy about me trying to touch him, but I figured I could still try. I moved my hand closer to him, slowly, slowly, until...

"Ow!"

I jumped back, holding my hand close to my chest. Bloodwing had pecked my hand and it hurt like shit. I mean, he did draw blood. I realized that I probably shouldn't have tried moving any further when I saw that he didn't seem too happy about me coming in close. Shit, that hurt. I looked at Mordecai's hands and saw why he said it probably would only hurt a little bit - his hands were full of little scars and calluses. He was used to being bitten by Bloodwing.

"Hey, Blood, that's not how you say thanks. Nova is nice, she's a friend." Mordecai said to him. He cawed quietly.

"Sorry about that, man, he barely lets anyone touch him. Takes him some time to get used to people. I was surprised he let you get so close in the first place."

"Yeah, he didn't look very happy about it. Ah well. It's alright, I'll just go and wash that quickly. Would you like an omelette and some coffee?" I asked, going back behind my kitchen counter to rinse the wound.

"The Best Fucking Coffee in the Middle of Nowhere." he replied. I turned around, a little confused.

"What?"

"Your sign. You run something like a restaurant? Here? In the Middle of Nowhere, without the bounty board working? I'm not surprised that you have to resort to dealing with bandits."

"Yeah, well, it was better before the bounty board broke down and no one would fix it. And before everyone left Pandora. I kinda need to get some new customers in here, but it's difficult with the location and all."

"You don't say?"

"Yeah, who would've thought, right?" I said laughing a little.

"Who told you that this would be a good idea? I mean, you could have been really successful on Elpis maybe, but on Pandora? And especially in this part?"

"Well, this was the only thing I could afford at the time."

"At the time? When was that?"

"Uh... maybe 10 years ago...?"

Mordecai looked at me wide-eyed.

"10 years? You spent 10 years on this piece of rock? That's awful. Wow. I think I do need that coffee."

I laughed. "Coming right up, good Sir."

"Also, you called this fucking place _Bones_?"

"I'm not very creative, okay? Let me know if you come up with a better name. I mean it kinda fits the Pandora vibes, doesn't it?"


	5. Chapter 4 or If You Ever Need Explosives

_song: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Dani California_

"So. This is where you get off, I suppose." I said as we pulled up to the fast travel station in the Middle of Nowhere. I was debating what to do after I dropped off Mordecai. I literally had nothing to do all day. I could go hunting, so I'd get some food. Or I could go and sell that gun, maybe do a few repair jobs, look around for some hustle, some way to make some money...

"Cool. Thanks for the breakfast and all, man.", he said, grabbing his stuff and jumping out of the car.

"Hey!"

He turned around. Shit. I didn't think that through. I had no idea what to say to him, I just knew that I didn't wanna let him go like that. I felt like we had just shared something, even if it would just end up being a fond memory. _Remember that time bandits kidnapped me and you saved me by accident and then we went on a big road trip through half of the Pandoran wasteland and had a sleepover? Good times._ I just had to make it awkward right now, didn't I?

"Uh... I mean, if you ever need some bombass explosives or something, you can always stop by. Or if you need a coffee. Bring some friends, if you want. I'm literally bored all the time, I have no idea what to do with myself. That's how I get into trouble." I replied quickly and with an apologetic smile. Wow. I straight up offered a guy I've known for a night and who almost killed me some explosives. I didn't even know if he was who he said he was. Wasn't I a legend?

"Sure thing. If I ever find the place again, I'll stop by. See ya 'round." he replied and Bloodwing chirped quietly as well.

"See ya."

And with that I saw him disintegrating and being sent through the fast travel network. Nothing in hell would ever get me through one of those things. They scared the living daylights out of me, if I was being honest. There were a few isolated incidents when I really needed to use them, but I hated every second of it. They made me feel sick and dizzy.

I decided not to dwell on it any more and turned the engine on again. I guess it was time for a bit of a drive. I had a nice assortment of guns in the back of the jeep and I was planning to sell some of them. And maybe I would even go and hunt some skags today, if it wasn't too late.

I still couldn't believe what had happened over the last two days. No trade with any bandit group had ever gone bad for me before, this was absolutely new. I couldn't believe they had managed to trick me. And that I got out in such a wacky way as well. This planet was just batshit crazy.

I had no idea how I had managed to survive here for about 10 years now. Especially, considering that before I came here I had been out living my best life on Aquator. It wasn't really the best life, to be honest, but most people would consider it that way. I mean, growing up on a vacation planet that was mostly overrun by filthy rich people was quite a contrast to the desert wasteland of Pandora.

But - alas - this was the lot I chose for myself. I wanted to leave and keep living my best life as quickly as possible and as far away from my family as possible and this is where I ended up. It was my own fault I never did enough research before I left. Or bothered with some basic survival skills.

All I knew at the time how to build and fix things. That's what I was good at, that's what I enjoyed doing when I wasn't partying or doing drugs on Aquator. And to be fair, I got to use all the shady knowledge on guns, fighting, drugs and explosives I had accumulated over the years. It wasn't even close enough to what I needed to know to survive here, but it got me through the first few weeks. And over time I learned how to shoot guns, how to reload them, how to take care of them. Everything I needed to know about guns, I had learned on Pandora.

From day one I had decided to leave this place as soon as possible, but I hadn't yet managed to get enough actual cash to leave the planet for somewhere better that wasn't actually a war zone. There were some planets I could have gone to, but they were potentially worse than Pandora and I didn't wanna take that risk. I was doing my research this time.

With a sigh, I decided to take the Underpass and get to New Haven that way. I mean, yes, I could sell the guns to a machine, but I liked talking to Marcus in person. Sometimes I was able to get a slightly better deal from that (although that was a really rare occasion). And I could probably pay a visit to Scooter and some other people, see if someone needed some help getting something fixed. I was more in a mood to be among people at the moment, than being out hunting.

It was kind of dodgy to go through the Underpass, not exactly the safest place to be, but there were surely worse places. Yes, I could have tried to trade off my guns in Jaynistown, but I had been getting hassle from bandits there pretty consistently, even when I was trying to sell them stuff.

It was fairly rough to make a living here, if you weren't in any sort of clan or didn't own any much needed business like Scooter or Marcus did. Then again, you didn't really need much money to get by, as long as you could hunt down and prepare some fresh skag meat. Which was mostly what I did. The days when I'd eat anything that wasn't skag couldn't come fast enough.

As I was approaching the Underpass, I sped up. I'd learned pretty quickly not to go around wasting ammunition by trying to kill every creature that tried attacking me, when I could just outrun them. Or rather outdrive them. Speeding through the Underpass had saved my life several times already. Doing the same thing boozed up on Rakk Ale was lethal, though. There were a lot of little rocks half-buried in the ground that you had to look out for. I knew what I was talking about, because I had done it and almost died and spend a big chunk of my savings on getting fixed up by Zed.

I was driving fast, hoping that maybe today I could manage to set aside a relatively large sum of money from selling that gun. Pandora was a cheap planet to live on in general, but you were also hit with a lot of unexpected expenses. I've been going through a shit ton of health kits over the years, because basically everything would try to kill you. Never trust a rock.

Another huge expense was ammunition, and while it was easy to get that from bandits, there was also the risk of them killing you. The safe way to get ammo was to buy it from Marcus, but he often overcharged. Big time.

Fuel for the car was really expensive over time as well, especially for me and my dislike for fast travelling. So while I was incredibly close to saving up enough to get off the face of this stupid ass planet, I was also dumb enough to lose it in stupid ways. Like buying booze. Buying ammo. Getting wounded so badly that Zed had to fix me up.

Or by losing bets for Moxxi's Underdome tournaments. I sometimes got into a fowl mood and had to watch some people tear each other apart. Everyone who was there was betting on how long the contestants would survive and it was kind of a guilty pleasure of mine to bet on the fights as well. But today was not one of those days. I wasn't in any mood for blood or gore.

To be fair, I was in the mood for a drink, but that wouldn't stop me. Not today. Not after I had made it out of the Underpass and was on my merry way to New Haven. To be honest, New Haven was sort of a nice place. I mean, the water supply was incredibly unstable which was the one thing really bugging me about it, but apart from that it had some nice facilities. Better than most other places, at least.

I parked my car and jumped out of it, getting the guns I wanted to sell out of the back. And by parked, I meant left it behind a pile of garbage in the hopes no one would steal it while I was gone. With the guns in my arms and slung over my shoulder I made my way into the town.

I sometimes wondered what people thought when they saw me. _Here comes Scooter's ex with a pile of guns again. Oh well. I hope she'll fix whatever the hell I need fixed. I wonder where she gets all those guns all the time._ No, that wasn't true. I wasn't always selling that many guns.

"Ey, man, good to see ya, Nova! Ain't seen ya in a long time." Scooter shouted at me as I ran past his workshop.

"Sorry, man, no time, gotta sell these babies!" I replied and kept jogging towards Marcus' shop.

"Alright, girl, catch ya later!" he said with a wave and laughed. Scooter and I had been dating for a few weeks and had ended things in a friendly manner. He was an alright guy, just not really... my kind of guy, I suppose. Whatever my kind of guy was. To be fair, I had never had a lucky hand with men.

I turned the corner and made my way towards Marcus' little shop. I still wasn't absolutely sure whether I could trust Marcus or not, but I liked to hear him talk. It was nice to hear his heavy accent and his attempts to sell you everything under the sky. I found it refreshing in small doses.

I jogged into the little hut and dropped all the guns that already started slipping from my arms onto Marcus' desk. He looked at me through the iron bars, his expression basically saying _what the fuck?_

"Miss Nova! Uh, lovely to see you here again! What can I help you with today?"

I gestured towards the guns, holding onto some of them to prevent them from falling down onto the floor. This was way more than what I'd usually sell.

"I wanna sell those babies." I replied. Marcus looked at me with a raised eyebrow and then took a look at the guns.

"Hm... let's see... that's a lot of guns you have here. Where'd you get all of them?"

"Long and complicated story that involves a bunch of people. Can you buy all of them off me? I'll take pretty much anything as payment, you know that. Ammo, food, cash, a better gun." I said. I was anxious to get the stuff sold and see how much I'd be able to make from it.

"Well... I can pay you in cash, if you want, but I also have a very nice brand-new Vladof sniper rifle in..."

Goddamn it. Marcus knew me too well. I loved Vladof rifles, they were my absolute favourite and I could almost never resist them. I loved the way they looked, I loved the heavy recoil on them, I loved how fast I could fire them. Everything about them was just beautiful.

"How much?" I asked weakly.

"Ah, now we're talking. Take a seat and we'll look at all these beauties you brought me there, shall we?"


	6. Chapter 5 or Making Friends With A Bird

_song: Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood_

It was one of those days on Pandora again. The weather was hot and sunny, I felt lazy and I had done most of my work a few days ahead of time, so I had no idea what to do with myself. It was Wednesday. Whatever that meant here. I wasn't even sure if people here cared about what day of the week it was.

Because I had no idea what to do with myself, I had decided to take a trip to New Haven again and hang out at Scooter's workshop. He was fairly pleasant to be around and I figured I could do with some company. I was really glad, we were still friends after we broke up, because I was short on friends ever since coming here.

Also, I could probably help him out with some repairs and maybe get a few spare parts for my house and my car in exchange. Not that Scooter needed any help, but he did like the company as well. At least that's what I guessed. Otherwise he'd have told me to get lost. But for now, he was happily babbling away.

"Oh, and did I tell ya I put a bounty on them bandit ships in Treacher's Landing?" he asked. I rolled out under a car, being immediately blinded by the blazing sunlight. Scooter took a sip from his coffee.

"No, you didn't."

"Yeah, they got three of them ships down there and they're using them as weapons. And I said to myself 'This has got to stop', so I put up that bounty."

"Anyone get back to you yet?" I questioned. I kinda doubted anyone would go and just sink three ships on their own. I mean, yes, I saw that Mordecai dude take out a whole bandit camp on his own a couple of weeks ago, but this was more like three bandit camps at once.

"No one came back yet, but there was a bunch of Vault Hunters askin' 'bout it."

No. fucking. way.

"Vault Hunters?"

"Yeah, there's a group of 'em in town lately. Good buddies with Helena Pierce. They've done a couple jobs for me already, they're real good, man.", he answered, absentmindedly staring into the distance. I blinked. I kinda doubted they were "good buddies" with Helena Pierce, because Helena barely trusted anyone, but who else could it be, but my friend Mordecai? I was kind of wondering who the rest of them were, but maybe he had brought friends to Pandora or something.

"Huh. That's funny. I met a Vault Hunter a while ago, don't know if he's from the same group though..."

"Woah, Jeeeeeeesus! I can't believe it!" he exclaimed, jumping up from his chair. I sat up on my elbows and looked at him confused. Scooter got excited about the smallest things, but not THAT excited.

"What? What is it?"

"They're back! Sons-of-bitches, they done it! Didn't think I'd see them again."

"Who are you talking about, Scooter?" I asked, wiping some sweat from my forehead (and probably leaving a lot of black grease there instead).

"The Vault Hunters, silly!"

"Oh."

I sat up a little further, holding a hand over my eyes to stop the sun shining into them and blinding me. There were four figures walking towards the workshop - one massive guy looking more like a mountain than a person, another rather large and muscular figure, but not as massive, one that looked like a woman and a rather thin and tall, slouching figure... Mordecai.

Goddamn it. I was kind of glad to see him again, tall and thin and slumped down walk, Bloodwing on his shoulder and everything. Even though the fact that I had no clue who the other three were made me a little nervous. I just remained sitting there, probably smiling like an idiot, waiting for them to get here.

I didn't even know if Mordecai would remember me, so I figured I'd just wait and see what happened. I liked to think our little bandit adventure was memorable enough, though. Then again, if he was out hunting vaults, he'd see way more exciting stuff.

"Hey, man, did you guys get 'em? Did you sink 'em?" Scooter asked them excitedly, shouting through half the town.

"We did. All three are down." the muscly guy said. They were close enough now for me to get a better look at them. The guy who had just talked to Scooter looked like some sort of soldier, so I figured he was either Crimson Lance or part of the Dahl military. He seemed to be a pretty stoic person.

The mountain guy seemed pretty scary, so I didn't look too long at him. All I noted was that he was huge and basically shaped like a triangle. He looked like the kind of person that would be constantly angry and I didn't wanna see him get pissed.

The woman looked nice enough, but it seemed like she was very easily pissed, too. She had flaming red hair and some blue tattoos, mainly on the left side of her body. The sirens rang a bell somewhere in the back of my head, but I couldn't think of what they reminded me of.

And then there was Mordecai, not even paying attention, but scratching Bloodwing's beak instead. I missed that bird, even though I now had little scars on my hand from where he bit me.

"Great, that should put an end to the coastline raids. Those bandits are resourceful bastards, aren't they? Turn your back for a second and they'll think of some other new way to kill you." Scooter babbled away. I was watching Bloodwing enjoying being petted, when Mordecai noticed me. He looked surprised for a second, squinting at me a little, and then he started grinning.

"Ey, man, what are you doin' here? Thought you were based in the Middle of Nowhere." he said, interrupting Scooter, who looked back and forth between me and Mordecai with a perplexed expression.

"Well, yeah, gets a little lonely there sometimes, so I'm hanging here." I replied.

"Good to see you again, man. Didn't get into any more trouble recently, it seems."

"Good to see you, too. Didn't think you'd still be alive, to be honest."

"Uh... do you guys... uh... know each other?" Scooter asked.

"Yeah, sorta.", I answered. I realized we had just made the whole situation really awkward. Like, _really awkward_.

"Is that the girl you've been talking about, Mordy?" the woman asked. Shit, was she his girlfriend or something? That would kind of explain the pissed look. The last thing I wanted was a woman who could take out three bandit ships to be mad at me. Also, what the hell? Why had he been talking about me at all?

"Yeah, that's her. She makes the best fucking coffee in the middle of nowhere. To be fair, it's the best fucking coffee I've had on Pandora so far.", Mordecai answered. I felt a little proud inside, because _hell yeah_ I made the best coffee. That was one of the few things I was actually good at.

"Thanks, man. I kinda feel like I'm the only one here who doesn't know everyone else." I replied and grinned awkwardly. Oh God, this was just weird. I wished I had stayed under the car.

"I'm Brick.", the mountain-like guy said after a short, but very awkward silence. I nodded at him with a slight smile. He could probably crush people with his little finger, if he wanted to. Why did he look so angry?

"Hi Brick.", I replied and waved a little. The soldier guy coughed a little and held out his hand. I looked at it, being a little weirded out with the whole formality of shaking this guy's hand. I leaned forward and did it anyways, because everything else would have been rude.

"I'm Roland. Used to work for Atlas a while back. Nice to meet you." he said. Ah, so he _was_ Crimson Lance.

"Nice to meet you, too." I replied and looked over at the woman. She rolled her eyes and looked back down at me.

"Lilith." was all she said. I kinda liked her style, despite of how grumpy she was. She seemed like she would be nice enough once you got to know her. Nice enough for Pandora.

"Cool. So what are y'all up to now? Found the vault yet?" I asked. I was really crap at keeping a decent conversation going, but well. How could it possibly get any more awkward, right?

"You don't believe the vault exists?" Lilith asked. I just shrugged.

"I don't know. Even if it does exist, like hell am I putting my life on the line to try and find it. I mean, no one even knows what's in it. Probably nothing I want. anyways." I answered in an indifferent voice.

"What would you want?", she wanted to know. Who was she, a therapist? I shrugged again.

"Enough cash to leave this planet would be a good place to start.", I replied. She seemed happy with that answer.

"Fair enough, I guess."

"Well, we still have a few jobs to do, so... I'll just head over to Marcus' to get some more ammo." Roland said after that and shifted his weight awkwardly. He turned to Lilith. "You coming with me, Lil?"

She nodded and the two of them turned around and headed out of Scooter's garage. Scooter waved at them, but they didn't even see it. As they walked away I heard a quiet caw coming from Mordecai's shoulder. He looked over and smiled at his bird. "You okay there, Blood?"

I leaned to the side to catch a glimpse of him. Yeah, Bloodwing bit me and I now had a small scar from it on my finger, but well. He was still pretty lovable for some reason. I guess I had taken a bit of a liking to him.

"I think Blood wants to say hi to you, chica." Mordecai said, looking at me. He held out his arm and sat down opposite me. Bloodwing hopped along his arm towards me and eyed me curiously.

"Hi Blood." I said with a smile. I decided the risk was worth it and held out my hand slowly. And then it happened. Bloodwing hopped onto my arm and looked around nervously. He cawed, sounding a little scared and looking back at Mordecai who seemed equally surprised.

"He seems to like you, man. I'm surprised he hasn't bitten you ye-"

"OW! For fuck's sake!" I screamed as Bloodwing took off from my arm and landed back on Mordecai's shoulder. Of course the damn bird had bitten me again. Soon, I'd have a hand full of scars to show and the only story I could tell was that some madman's bird decided I was good food.

Bloodwing cawed happily on Mordecai's shoulder and rubbed his beak against his cheek. Mordecai just shook his head and whispered to Bloodwing. I tried to hear what he said, but all I could understand was something about being a silly, shy bird and getting scared with other people.

He looked back at me with an apologetic look on his face and shrugged, as if he was at a loss about what to do with Bloodwing chickening out on sitting on my arm. I was still shaking my hand, but the pain was getting better quickly. I gave him a small smile, but Mordecai just sighed.

"He has taken quite a liking to you. He just shows it in a peculiar way, I suppose."


	7. Chapter 6 or Drunk Visits

_song: X Ambassadors - The Devil You Know_

I was woken up in the middle of the night by a loud bang on the door to my room. I looked at my ECHO device and realised it wasn't really the middle of the night, but rather the early morning. Very early morning. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Who the hell would come and visit at this time?

I was about to open the door, when I realised it. I realised that no one could possibly be banging on my door unless they had broken into my house. Shit. I threw on a bathrobe and grabbed the pistol I had stashed under my pillow. I held it in front of me and very slowly opened the door.

A dark silhouette came in sight. I was still hiding behind the door. The silhouette was tall and thin... Wait a second. That silhouette looked familiar. I only knew one person that tall and that thin. But how in hell did he...?

"Woah, put down the gun, it's just me."

"For fuck's sake, Mordecai. What the hell? How did you even get in here?"

"Your house isn't particularly well locked. Plus, you left the spare key in a flower pot.", he answered with a big self-satisfied grin on his face. This man. This man would be the death of me one day. What was he even doing here at this ungodly hour? And why did he smell like...?

"Are you drunk?"

"What? Me? Nooo... Maybe a little."

I shook my head and laughed quietly to myself, as I lowered my gun. I held my door open for him and he wandered inside, sitting down on my bed and smiling at me smugly. I put my gun back under my pillow.

"So what do you want at this god awful time?" I asked. I could see the smile widening on his lips. He raised his hand as if he was trying to make a point in a public debate. He really was quite drunk.

"Ah, see, it's not an awful time. It's an amazing time to go hunting. Care to come with me and Blood?"

"Uh... sure. Why ask me, though?" I replied while searching the wall for my light switch. It was fairly dim in the room and I needed to get some stuff, if I was to come with him. I normally enjoyed my sleep more than company, but I just knew that I'd never be able to go back to sleep now.

I finally found the light switch and turned on the lights. It flickered for a few seconds until it eventually stayed on. Mordecai blinked at me, being a little blinded by the sudden bright light.

"I don't know. You were close by. You seem nice. I don't know. Don't ask me hard questions like that... Are you gonna go out wearing this?"

I looked down on myself. Under my bathrobe I was still in the clothes I slept in, which consisted of a pair of boxer shorts and a sports bra. Shit. I probably should have put on clothes before I turned on the lights. Actually, I should have put on clothes, before I opened the door.

"Jesus, no. You just woke me up in the middle of the night, that's why I'm barely dressed. Gimme a minute." I replied and started to frantically search for something to wear amongst all the clothes scattered on the floor.

"I mean, I'm not complaining, but okay." he said. Wait, what? I stopped what I was doing and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, a little taken aback. Mordecai was probably really drunk, because he just didn't seem like the type to openly make comments like that. I don't know what I expected, but for some reason I didn't expect him saying that. I wasn't really used to getting attention like that. Not anymore.

I mean, I used to sleep around a lot. I got nice meals, clothes, jewellery and all kinds of stuff out of it back on Aquator, so I pretty much made a sport out of it. Sleeping with rich businessmen on their vacation trips and getting luxury items in return. But that was all before I came to Pandora.

"Sorry, that sounded cooler in my head. I've been drinking, it's not my fault." he added. I laughed.

"Don't worry 'bout it. Just wasn't expecting it, really." I replied and grabbed some clothes from the floor, quickly getting into them. I could feel Mordecai watching me, but I decided not to think too much of it. I knew far too well what it was like to be drunk and in a weird situation like this. And I was also kind of enjoying it - having someone's eyes on me and practically feeling it.

"So what's your weapon of choice?" he asked after a while.

"What?"

"Your weapon of choice. What do you like to shoot with?" he repeated.

"Oh. Right. I like shotguns and sniper rifles most, but realistically small handguns and SMGs are more practical. I mean rocket launchers are fucking great, too, but when do you ever get to use them, you know?" I answered. Mordecai just looked at me with a weird expression on his face. I sighed, as I pulled a black tank top over my head. I was almost ready to go.

"Well, I guess, I just really, really, really like guns, okay?"

"No, that's not it. Just unusual to meet rocket launcher enthusiasts. What brand do you like best for your snipers?" Mordecai questioned. This one was easy. It's not like I had the money to try a lot of different brands, but I didn't need to try them. When I bought my first good rifle, I just knew that I was in love with this brand.

"Vladof. I love the high fire rate and they are still quite accurate. They're solid rifles.", I answered. Mordecai nodded smiling.

"Yeah, I like Vladof, too. S&S does some great ones, as well, to be fair. So you got a Vladof rifle?"

"Yeah, it's fairly new, too, so this'll be my first time taking her out properly." I replied, excitement in my voice.

"Nice. Can I see?"

"Sure. I'm ready to go anyways. You wanna drive somewhere?"

"Yeah, why not? I mean I got here with a Catch-A-Ride, you wanna take that?"

"Yep. I'm driving, though. If you drive, you'll probably kill us all."

Mordecai looked as if he was about to protest, but then just nodded and murmured "Fair point."

I grinned and reached under my bed, pulling out a long metal box with about five locks on it. This was where I kept my best guns - in well-locked metal boxes randomly distributed around my house. That's just how I rolled. I got a keyring with a bunch of keys out of a drawer on my nightstand and started unlocking the box.

"You really like that gun, huh?"

"Obviously. It's my baby." I said and took the sniper rifle out of the box. It still felt so fresh and new, I just had to hold it in my hands for a while and enjoy the feeling of it. Then I handed it over to Mordecai. He looked at it appreciatively, quietly taking a close look at every inch of the weapon. He seemed to approve of it.

"Looks like a really nice rifle. Where'd you get it?"

"Marcus sold it to me in exchange for some of the weapons I got from that bandit camp. I was paid partly in cash, partly in ammo and with this beauty." I replied, taking it back and slinging it over my shoulder.

"Nice. Sounds like a good bargain."

"Yeah, it was. Hey, where did you leave Bloodwing?"

"He wanted to fly around for a while. I'll get him when we get going. You ready?" he asked. I nodded. I was looking forward to seeing Bloodwing again, even though he seemed to like biting me.

"Where did you leave your friends?" I asked as I followed Mordecai outside and locked the door again.

"What friends?"

"Lilith, Roland, Brick?"

"Oh, them. I don't know, probably around New Haven or something? We kinda decided to take a break for a few days. And I found this neat place that sells rakk ale, so I figured I'd enjoy myself.", he answered with a shrug. Huh. Maybe they weren't as close as they seemed? Maybe they were really just looking for the Vault together and that was it. I wondered how they met.

"That sounds reasonable. Rakk Ale is fucking amazing." I agreed. Actually, rakk ale was absolutely terrible, but it did a good job at making you forget your own name for a few hours.

"Isn't it? I've got a couple bottles in the back of the car. We can have some while sniping, how's that sound?"

"That sounds perfect. So where are we going?"

Mordecai just shrugged and replied "Guess we're going wherever we end up. I mean, there is so much we can hunt - rakk, skags, spider ants, bandits..."

"Yeah, can we hunt something useful maybe? I don't really think you can eat spiderants. They're really just kind of a nuisance. Skags are good. Rakk are alright. I guess bandits count as useful, too, since we can steal stuff from them."

"Ah, I like your attitude, amiga. Let's see what we feel up to, shall we?"

"Good idea. So where have you parked the car?"

"Just up that little hill here." he answered and started walking up the narrow winding road from my house to the open desert. The sun was starting to rise and it bathed the mountains in a beautiful blood red light. I stood still for a second to take in the amazing view.

"Wow." Mordecai just commented.

"Pandora sure can be a beautiful place, if it wants to be." I said.

"Aren't you glad I woke you up in the middle of the night? Without me you wouldn't have seen this."

"Yeah, I'm kinda glad, but don't expect me to be eternally grateful. I'm still tired as shit." I replied. I started walking towards the car which had a strange pinkish color to it. What the hell was wrong with that paint job? I gestured toward the car.

"You chose that color?" I asked. Mordecai shrugged.

"Yeah, why?"

"It's pretty awful, to be fair."

"Oh. Why, what's awful about it?"

"It's this weird pinkish color."

Mordecai grimaced when I said that. Looked like a bad drunk decision.

"That's awful.", he said, the look of instant regret on his face.

"Why'd you choose it then?" I asked.

"No idea. Again, don't ask me hard questions like that. Let's just get into the car and drive off and get drunk and hunt some stuff, okay?"

"Alright, then. Off we go.", I replied and jumped into the driver's seat, while Mordecai took the gunner seat.


	8. Chapter 7 or The Worst Hangover Ever

_song: Cage The Elephant - In One Ear_

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was how incredibly thirsty I was. I tried moving and soon realized, every single muscle in my body was aching. I sat up groaning and looked around. Where the hell was I?

My head was hurting like hell. The hot Pandoran sun was shining into my eyes, worsening the pounding headache. I turned my eyes away quickly and mumbled some incoherent words. I felt a little sick to my stomach. I realised I was lying in some kind of makeshift tent. This looked suspiciously like one of those...

I was suddenly wide awake, searching my surroundings for something frantically. I felt a little better when I felt the cold metal of my sniper rifle beside me. I grabbed the gun and sat up a little further. How did I get into a bandit camp and what was I doing here and why wasn't I dead yet?

I checked my surroundings and noticed someone lying in a different corner of the makeshift tent. I squinted at the figure. Was that...? Mordecai! Of course he'd be involved in a weird situation I was in. I tried remembering what exactly had happened the night before. I remembered him showing up at my door, already fairly drunk... the two of us heading out together to go hunting... more drinking... oh dear Lord.

 _"For real?"_

 _"Yeah."_

 _"That's the worst story of anyone getting stuck on Pandora I've ever heard. Chica, you really got some bad luck. What was so bad about your home anyway? Why'd you wanna leave so bad?"_

 _"I don't even know. I was a stupid teenager when I left. I was just so fucking stupid. I wouldn't be here otherwise. I guess, I just wanted to get away from everyone back home or some shit. And now I'm here. It's not great, but I also wouldn't wanna go back, you know?"_

 _Mordecai nodded and took another sip from his bottle before passing it to me. He looked down at his sniper rifle._

 _"How would you feel about making a good bit of money?"_

 _"How do you mean?"_

 _"I know of a small bandit camp, pretty close to here. We can easily clear it out, the two of us and get some cash and guns, if you're up for it."_

 _"You wanna pull that off in your state of inebriation?"_

 _"Inebri-what?"_

 _"You're fucking drunk, you sure that's a good idea?"_

 _"I'm absolutely fine and it's the best idea I had this morning. It's still fairly early."_

 _"Awesome, let's do it."_

"Oh God..." I mumbled. Well, it looked like we had either made it and cleared out a bandit camp, just the two of us on our own, or we had been captured trying, and incapacitated so much that they could just leave us lying around the place. The last option somehow seemed more likely.

"Hey, Mordecai." I said, but it only came out as a cracked whisper. Damn, that rakk ale was some horrible stuff. I made a note to get more of it at some point. I cleared my throat and called Mordecai a little louder this time. All I got in response was an agonized groan. At least I wasn't the only hungover one. And at least he was still alive, that was quite relieving.

"Mordecai, wake up!" I shouted to the best of my abilities. It made me cough horribly, but at least he had heard me. He opened one eye and just glared at me for a moment, before slowly opening both eyes. It was strange to see him without his goggles and mask for the first time.

Thanks to the mask there was only a slight tan line around his chin. His face looked kind of rugged, but his eyes were incredibly dark and surprisingly friendly and warm. A few dreads had escaped his ponytail and they were falling into his face. I soon found myself staring at his lips. They were pretty slim and looked dark and _goddamnit_ did they make him look handsome.

Shit. This was the first time I got a proper look at his face and I was smitten. Mordecai looked pretty damn hot. The lean figure, thin build, how tall he was, prominent features, just everything. I hadn't realized it before, but this man was absolutely my type. It just hit me all of a sudden how incredibly attracted I was to him. Not only in a friendly way, but physically, too. This was bad.

About 10 years ago, I'd jump into any relationship without a second thought. I didn't even care if people got hurt in the process. But since then I had fucking grown up and learned that friendships (or rather allies) were one of the most valuable things you could have on Pandora.

Making enemies really wasn't worth it on this planet. And the only guy I had ever dated here was Scooter and Scooter dated everyone. Scooter was Scooter after all. I couldn't risk hurting Mordecai or any of his friends, because they all looked like they could (and would) kill me without asking questions. Making enemies on Pandora was lethal and getting into a relationship just lead to people getting hurt.

I couldn't do that. I just couldn't. Not with the way I got in relationships. Plus, at this stage I considered Mordecai a friend and he seemed to be a fairly good friend for Pandora. I didn't know if I could risk that friendship. At the same time I was aching for any sort of relationship, even if it was purely physical. I mean, shit, I hadn't had a good hook-up in about 10 years. I was getting thirsty.

"Shit, girl, what is going on? You alright?" he asked, his voice a little raspier than usually. I nodded and forced myself to look away from him, before it got weird. There was still a chance that this was just some hangover confusion and that it would go away over the next few days.

"Probably one of the worst hangovers in my life, but apart from that I'm fine. You?" I replied, stretching my arms and yawning.

"Feel like shit, but I'm good otherwise. Sure hope them bandits have some water somewhere." he said with a smug grin on his face.

"We did finish them all, right?" I asked. I couldn't remember much of last night and I was still not sure where I had left my shotgun. Mordecai gave me a puzzled look, as I tried getting up without stumbling around the place.

"You don't remember anything?"

"Nuh uh. I mean, I remember some bits, but not much." I answered. Mordecai seemed astonished for a second and then burst into laughter. I glared at him, but I couldn't be mad at him. Especially since I realized how painfully good-looking he was. Maybe I should just shoot myself right here and now.

"Hey, what's so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing, sorry. You remember when we said we would go and clear out the bandit camp nearby?" he asked with a big grin on his face. I nodded, holding my aching head.

"Good. You remember us marching into the middle of the camp and almost gettin' killed?"

"Uh... no."

"The car blowing up?"

"Also no. Shit, man, what happened?"

"Okay, so we sit around after hunting a few skags and we drink more and we get this idea to go and clear out this bandit camp, right? So we drop off the skag meat, take the car and drive to the camp. Just before we get there, we crash into a big mad rock and the car explodes, just enough time for the two of us to get out and grab our guns.", Mordecai started telling the story, while gathering up his dreadlocks and tying them into a ponytail again.

"One second, was that the Catch-A-Ride or my car?", I wanted to know, a little panic rising inside me.

"Catch-A-Ride, don't worry. So we crash the car and we're not too far from the camp, but way too far to walk back home. So we walk the last few metres to the camp and just walk straight into it, bandits staring at us left and right, until we all finally realize what's going on and we all start shooting. Was messy." he explained. I blinked a few times, not really believing what I heard.

"Why would we do something stupid like that?"

"Because we were drunk idiots at the time."

"Fair point. Continue."

"That was pretty much it. We somehow managed to find cover and got Bloodwing to help us out. You almost got your skull split by a psycho. After we killed them all, we pretty much passed out here." he said.

"Fuck. I'm never clearing out a bandit camp with you ever again while we're both drunk." I mumbled and carefully got up. I was fully aware that that was a lie and I'd drop everything the next time Mordecai came knocking at my door in the middle of the night. I felt like shit now, but I remembered we had a pretty good time.

As I managed to get up and stay standing without stumbling, I realized my whole body was sore and I felt sick to my stomach. Probably because I hadn't eaten anything since last night and it was most likely already the afternoon of the next day. I was hungry. And thirsty. I could barely think of anything but water. Well, water and fucking Mordecai, but I tried suppressing that for now.

"You're a decent shot, man. I was impressed." Mordecai said. I laughed quietly, as I walked a few steps and looked at the bandit camp that was more or less covered in corpses. Looting the place would be a pain.

"Thanks. I guess you were impressed because you always think you're the only person who can shoot stuff." I replied. Mordecai grinned.

"Well, I'm still the best shot in a few solar systems, so..."

"Yeah, and pretty damn full of yourself, too. Where's Blood?" I asked, trying to change the topic. I caught myself checking out Mordecai once again and I needed a distraction, before I was lost to the world.

"He's outside, probably spreading his wings a little. I should get a nice treat for him, actually. And we still have to loot the place." Mordecai answered, slowly crawling towards the exit of the little tent.

"How do you plan on getting the stuff home without a car?" I asked. Mordecai looked at me, stopping to search for his goggles on the floor.

"Shit, I didn't even think of that. Guess we'll have to see if they've got a car or something. If not, we're kinda stuck. Next Catch-A-Ride is a few miles away."

"Fuck."


	9. Chapter 8 or Enjoying the Show

_song: Cage The Elephant - Mess Around_

"I. Am. Wrecked."

I leaned back in the car seat and closed my eyes for a few seconds. When I opened them again, I bend my neck backwards until I was looking at Mordecai who sat slumped down in the gunner seat.

"Tell me 'bout it.", he replied. We both looked like shit. It was nighttime already, but we made it to New Haven with a whole lot of loot. We could have made it way earlier, but I refused to go through the Fast Travel Network, so it was up to me to drive all the way back.

Hauling back all the loot almost wasn't worth it. I knew I'd probably pay Scooter back for the blown up car. He never really asked his friends to pay him back, but he always managed to make me feel guilty enough. And it was such a pain to drag all of the loot to the one car the bandits owned.

"I gotta go and see if I can stay with Scooter or someone. I'm too wrecked to drive all the way back to the Middle of Nowhere." I said, slowly crawling out of the car. I heard some quiet caws as Bloodwing landed on Mordecai's shoulder. He turned to him and smiled at him, gently rubbing his beak.

"You can stay with me, if ya want, girl." Mordecai offered, looking back at me, as I was unloading some of the guns I got from the car. I paused for a moment. I really liked Mordecai. He was always acting like such a tough guy, but he was actually very kind and an amazing friend.

But I still wasn't over being insanely attracted to him and I knew I'd risk being a goner, if I stayed with him. Then again, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Scooter didn't end badly and no one got hurt badly back then. Maybe... just maybe this would work out alright for me? I mean, chances were that Mordecai would leave Pandora after finding the Vault and I could possibly get away from Pandora with him and... I stopped myself.

I didn't like where this thought was going. Mordecai was my friend, I didn't wanna use him to get away from Pandora. I was just so conditioned to judge people by what they could do for me and what advantages I could get from being close to them. It helped me live a luxurious lifestyle back on Aquator. It was a terrible way of thinking, though, and I thought I had put that behind me. Obviously not.

I sighed and figured that it probably wouldn't be so bad, if I stayed there. Yes, I could already feel myself falling for Mordecai, but if I just kept my damn mouth shut and just didn't pursue anything... how bad could it be? It might just work out for me in the end. But damn, did I want him.

"Well, if you wouldn't mind. I mean, Scooter and I kinda got history, so I dunno, I'd rather not ask him for many favours and all.", I finally told him, as I mentally signed off my death penalty.

"Wait, Scooter was the guy in New Haven that you dated for a while?" Mordecai replied with a big grin. I sighed.

"Yeah."

"You dated Scooter? Scooter the redneck mechanic? That Scooter?"

"Yes, that Scooter."

"So... is he really the fastest ride in town?" he asked with the biggest grin on his face I had seen so far. I burst out laughing. I couldn't believe that after all these years Scooter was still using that line unironically.

"I mean, I don't really know enough about other people in New Haven, but Scooter is definitely close to the top of the list." I answered. Mordecai laughed quietly to himself and shook his head.

"I kinda figured, but man, hearing it first-hand just makes it so much better. Anyways, of course it's no problem if you wanna stay. It's not the biggest or most comfy place, but I guess it's better than Scooter's workshop."

"Thanks, man. Appreciate it."

I took the last of my guns and my cash stack and started walking towards the dumping site outside New Haven. We had driven all around the town, so we didn't have to walk too far and I was seriously grateful for that. Mordecai was a few steps ahead of me, as we stepped out between two piles of garbage and into a sort of trash-clearing. There were 4 containers standing in a circle formation. I could make out the light of a little campfire in the middle of the formation.

"Where the hell have you been, Mordecai?" I heard a voice say. I walked up to Mordecai and stepped out behind him, a sheepish look on my face. Sitting around the fire were Roland, Lilith and Brick.

"I was just out hunting. Why you askin', Roland?" he replied.

"We were worried about you. You were just gone without saying anything and didn't turn up for two whole days." Lilith retorted. She sounded pretty frustrated. I felt a little weird, like when you are at your friend's place and their parents are giving out to them, while you're just standing there awkwardly.

"Relax, Lil. It's not like we had stuff to do or anything.", Mordecai said. Man, this was awkward.

"Just tell us if you plan to leave for a few days the next time, okay? We'll have to head up to see Tannis in the morning, Mordy, so get some sleep." Roland said.

"At least answer to some ECHO messages.", Lilith added.

"Sure thing. C'mon, Nova." Mordecai said and started walking towards one of the containers. I (unintentionally) decided to make the whole situation even more awkward. Yay me.

"Hi everyone." I said to the group, waving and smiling a little. Brick gave me a big smile and waved back with his huge hands.

"Hi, Mordecai's friend! Good to see you again." he replied. Brick was just precious. Absolutely precious. I don't know why I was ever afraid of pissing him off, he was the only one who reacted to what I said and didn't just look at me. It made me feel a little less dumb.

"Good to see you all again, too. How's the vault hunting and all that stuff going?" I asked. I saw Lilith with a smug grin on her face.

"Wow, Mordy, you brought a girl back home? That's a first." she said jokingly. Thankfully it was dark outside, so no one could see me blushing. I only then realized exactly how awkward I was being.

"Oh, shut it, Lil.", he answered with a grin.

"We seem to be getting somewhere with the Vault. We'll have to see what Tannis has for us in the morning. Seems like we're not the only ones interested in it, though." Roland finally answered my question.

"Really? Who else is interested in the Vault?" I asked. I mean, I never really thought that people actually took it that seriously. Except for some fortune-seekers like those four and some others before them.

"Atlas seems to have quite an interest in it, as well. The Crimson Lance is giving us some trouble in Old Haven.", Roland said. That was weird. I thought Roland was with the lance? Maybe he quit or something? Weird how they didn't kill him for that yet.

"Wow, shit. The Lance. Man, lancers are really tough. I ran into a group of them once, they almost had me killed. But I could talk my way out of it in the end. They're no fun.", I replied, only to make things even weirder.

"Can you talk this out in the morning, maybe? Nova and I are both hungover and tired as shit, and I'd like to get some sleep, if you don't mind." Mordecai interrupted. Roland nodded quickly.

"Sure, get some rest. Goodnight." he replied. Mordecai nodded at him and made his way towards his container.

"Night everyone." I said awkwardly and followed Mordecai. This was a terribly weird situation for everyone involved. Ugh.

"Sorry 'bout them, they can be really weird sometimes." Mordecai said quietly when we stepped into the container. I huffed. _They_ could be really weird? Hell, did he see me be Queen Awkward just there?

It was pretty warm in the container, but surprisingly orderly, except for the odd pack of ammunition here and there. It was a nice enough place for one person and most certainly cozier than Scooter's workshop. I felt a little embarrassed that Mordecai had seen the mess in my house, when his place was so tidy.

"Make yourself at home, chica. Sorry, but there's not much to it. I can offer you the bed, but there's not much difference to the mat on the floor, so whatever you'd like better." he said shrugging.

"I'm fine with the floor." I replied and started piling my guns next to the grey mat opposite the bed. To be fair, the bed really didn't look that comfortable. It also looked like it was barely ever used.

"Alright then. Time to go to bed, I suppose." Mordecai replied and took off his heavy boots, quickly putting them outside the container. I grinned at the thought of him being embarrassed, because his black combat boots were smelling after wearing them for two days on a hot desert planet like Pandora.

I took off my boots, too, and put them outside the container as well, since Mordecai was being so nice. When I got back to my mat, I started taking off the rest of my clothes until I was down to my boxers and the bra. It felt good to be out of all the heavy gear and in some light clothes for once.

"Do you want a change of clothes or something?" Mordecai asked, barely looking at me. It was quite sweet of him to be so polite about me getting changed, but...

"Nah. I mean, there's nothing you ain't seen yet." I replied. He nodded and I sat down on the mat, leaning against the wall and watching him take off his mask and his goggles. He took off his scarf, vest and shirt next, revealing a thin, but muscly build. I bit my lip absentmindedly. Maybe I was just starved for sex, maybe it was the hangover. I just couldn't keep my eyes off him. There was nothing in the world that I wanted more than this man. He bent down and put on a shirt that was probably white at some point. I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

"Enjoying the show?" he asked with his back turned to me. Ah, shit. He had caught me staring. I hoped this was the first time he had noticed. I really hoped he wouldn't see the slight blush spreading across my cheeks.

"Shut up. And yeah, I am enjoying the show." I answered. Mordecai turned around with a smirk on his face.

"You _are_ a cheeky one, huh, chica?"

I just shrugged and replied "Whatever gets me where I want to be, I guess."

Mordecai laughed and shook his head, saying "You're lacking sleep, girl. Get some rest."


	10. Chapter 9 or That Awkward Talk

_song: Robert Ellis - Good Intentions_

I woke up from something tearing through my skin. I had no idea what it was and how bad it was, so I slowly opened my eyes to see Bloodwing sitting next to me on the floor and pecking at my arm with his beak.

"What the shit..."

I sat up quickly, moving away from Bloodwing. The bird looked at me confused and cawed happily. He looked at me as if he expected something from me. I took a look at my arm. There were a few bleeding wounds, but they were rather small. I looked at Bloodwing again and stretched out my hand to him with a sigh. He happily hopped closer and bit me again.

"Ouch! What the hell, dude?" I exclaimed. Guess, I'd never learn with this bird. In my defense, Bloodwing just seemed like a very cute bird and could easily make you forget how much he could hurt you. He also seemed to be really happy to see me, because he started hopping up and down excitedly. He also started screaming his lungs out, as if I was a dumbass for not understanding what he wanted from me. Maybe I was a dumbass for that, who knew.

"What is it? What do you want?"

Bloodwing hopped towards the back of the container and came back with a can in his beak after a while. He dropped it in front of me and looked at me expectantly. I picked up the can and looked at it. Skag meat.

"Oh, you want a treat, huh? Did Mordecai tell you to wake me up?" I asked. Bloodwing cawed happily.

"Fine. You did a pretty good job at waking me up. Let me see if I can get this open..." I replied. I couldn't believe I was actually talking to a bird. I fiddled with the can a little and managed to get it open after a while. I took out a big chunk of skag meat and threw it at Bloodwing. He hopped upwards, caught it in his beak and started happily chewing away at it.

I got up and started getting dressed again. Mordecai was apparently long gone already, so I figured I'd get out, so I wouldn't overstay my welcome. I put on my cargo pants and reattached all my holsters and my guns, before I started putting on my tank top. I was still tired and felt every muscle in my body when I stepped outside the container to get some fresh air.

Just after I stepped out, I heard some commotion behind me and then, all of a sudden, Bloodwing landed on my shoulder. I got the fright of my life, screaming a little as he looked at my face. I firmly believed I was about to be ended. But, fortunately, all he did was rub his beak (bloody from the skag meat) against my cheek. Then he took off, probably to go and reunite with Mordecai.

"Bloodwing seems to have taken a liking to you." I heard a voice call out to me. I turned towards the source of the voice, Lilith. She was leaning against the container with a smug grin on her face.

"I guess. I mean, he did give me all those bites and scratches." I said, showing her my arm. Lilith took a look at it and grimaced a little.

"I suppose Bloodwing shows his affection in strange ways. If he hated you, you'd already be dead by now." she replied.

"Yeah. I guess. Hey, do you guys have anything here I can clean those wounds with? If not, I'll just see if I can get something from Zed's, since I'm here already."

"Sorry, I think Mordy took all the healing kits. It's like he collects the damn things or something."

"Typical. Well, uh, I guess I'll see you around or something?" I said. I wasn't really sure how to talk to Lilith. I mean, I barely knew her. And she seemed to have a bit of an attitude, although I was fairly certain that was a well put together act.

"I actually wanted to talk to you about something." she replied. Oh shit. She probably was Mordecai's girlfriend and I was going to get the crap beaten out of me now. Wonderful. Why did I always end up in situations like that? It was ridiculous.

"Uh, sure, what about?" I answered, trying to play it cool. _Please don't say it, please don't say it, please don't say it._

"Mordecai."

Fuck. I knew it. I fucking knew it. She was his girlfriend or something and she was jealous. I mean, back home I wouldn't have cared about such a thing if it meant I could have some good fun, but Pandora was different.

Any friend I could get here, I actually needed. Allies were important. I wasn't gonna screw this up. I could at least try not to. Plus, I felt Lilith wouldn't hesitate to blow my brains out right here. This was just the worst. I knew I'd get myself into some terrible situation if I accepted Mordecai's offer to stay with him and here I was. I just never learned. Ever. I closed my eyes and sighed.

"Hey, Mordecai and I are just friends. Like, literally, there is nothing between us. I mean, if you want me to back off from your boyfriend, I get it, just tell me and I'll back off, no big de-"

"No, no no! Hell, no. I'm not his girlfriend or anything like that. Ew." she interrupted me. Oh. Oops. I blushed violently.

"Oh, uh... this is awkward. I thought you guys had a thing or something..."

"Ew, no. Absolutely not. Mordecai is a nice guy, but no. Don't worry about that at all. Never in a million years." Lilith said. She seemed so appalled that I had thought they had something going on, it was almost comical. I mean, I thought Mordecai was pretty hot, but he was probably not everyone's type. What I wanted to know was what she wanted to talk about, if it wasn't some jealous thing.

"Okay, what did you want to talk about then?" I asked. This was really confusing. What other reason could she have to talk to me? I mean, seriously, she had nothing to do with either my business or Mordecai's business. I didn't get it. She looked at me and sighed, as if she didn't know how to say something.

"You like him, right?" she asked. Shit, how did she know? I mean, of course I liked him. I think it was fairly obvious that I liked him as a friend. Wait, was this maybe one of those 'don't lead him on' talks?

"Yeah, sure, he's a good friend." I replied with a shrug.

"You know what I mean. I've seen the way you looked at him last night. Anyways, that's not my point. I don't care who you're into and who you're not into. None of my business. But you see, Mordecai is a bit of a loner and for him it's a big thing to let someone get so close to him." she said. I really hoped my blush was gone at this stage. This talk was really awkward and I hoped it would stay between her and me. And that it would end soon, because I just felt really uncomfortable. Hell, I didn't even know myself how to feel about Mordecai.

"Wait, did he... I dunno, say something? About me?" I asked. Lilith gave me a triumphant grin. Shit. Did I let on too much?

"No, he didn't. But we've all spent enough time with him to see that he has definitely taken a liking to you. And you seem to like him, too, so I'd suggest you make some sort of move on him sooner or later, if you are seriously into him." she suggested. Okay, what the fuck? She wanted me to fuck Mordecai?

"Uh... okay, but why? I mean, not to be confrontational, but how is that your business? Why do you care?"

"It's none of my business, but... ugh. See, he and Roland are just on their way to get the last piece of the Vault Key from Patricia Tannis. Which means, we're apparently really close to the Vault. And none of us know what expects us there or on the way there, so you know. Use your chance, while you can and all. If you are seriously interested in him, that is. If not, don't give him any false hopes. He's enough of a loner already and I think he might not take it well if you lead him on." she replied. I nodded. That seemed like a fairly okay excuse for that awkward talk.

"Okay. Well, thanks for the heads up, I suppose. Can I be honest with you and can I trust you that this thing stays between us?" I asked. I had no idea why I trusted that woman, but well. She seemed to care somewhat about poor Mordecai. Plus, there weren't really many other women around to talk to.

"Sure. My lips are sealed." she answered.

"See, I have no idea myself how I feel about Mordecai. On the one hand, yeah, I find him really damn attractive. Like, the dude is hot. On the other hand, he seems to be very content with just himself and I really like having him around as a friend. I don't wanna ruin that. And then again, that being said, I'm just really damn thirsty for some good sex and I don't know what to do about it. Sorry, if this is too much information, but damn, I really needed to tell someone.", I said.

"Wow. Uhm. I didn't expect that, but... well, Mordecai doesn't seem like the relationship type. But I'm fairly sure he wouldn't have a problem if you included some benefits in your friendship, if you know what I mean." she answered with a wink. I stared at her with my mouth open for something that felt like ten minutes.

"Wow. Shit, girl, I didn't take you as someone that would suggest that, but okay. Thanks for listening to my rambling anyways. I'm actually surprised you don't have a thing for Mordecai, but okay."

"No. Firstly, not my type at all. And second, well, there is someone else."

I raised my eyebrows at that. Someone else? That sounded interesting... I wondered if she'd tell me who it was...

"Oh my God. Okay, hold up. It's not Brick, is it? Or Scooter?"

"What? No. Jeez, girl, you have horrible taste, if you think I'd go for them."

"Alright, alright. Spill the tea, sister, because I'm interested."

"It's Roland." she said. I gasped. This was probably the most girly talk I had had in the last 10 years, and I was thoroughly enjoying it.

"Roland? Roland, the lancer? For real?" I asked. She rolled her eyes and blushed a little. She looked around quickly and then nodded.

"Yeah. And it looks like they're going to be back soon, so... no word to them if you meet them on your way into town, okay?" she said. I nodded.

"If you keep your mouth shut."

"Deal."

"Man, that was quite refreshing. Having a girl talk, I mean." I commented. Lilith looked at me, a little taken aback and then nodded slightly.

"Yeah... yeah, I was never really friends with many girls, but this was fun, I guess." she replied.

"If you ever wanna talk again or want a coffee... you know where to find me, right?" I said with a smug grin on my face. She nodded with a smirk on her face.

"The Middle of Nowhere, I'll stop by for some... uh... tea."


	11. Chapter 10 or Speculations

_song: Counting Crows - Mr. Jones_

"Ah, if you keep selling me weapons at that rate, you'll make me go bankrupt, Nova." Marcus said with a big smile on his face. I rolled my eyes jokingly. As if that man would ever go bankrupt. He'd just sell the weapons back to bandits and someone would take them from the bandits again and sell them back to him. It was like an endless circle, but Marcus kept making profit.

"Bullshit. We all know you're not even close to going bankrupt." I replied and grinned back at him.

"Maybe not. Say, how do you like that new sniper?" Marcus asked. I froze in my movements. Was I that obvious about it? Did the whole damn town of New Haven knew I had a thing for Mordecai?

"Uh..." I replied. Marcus laughed.

"Ah, come on! I know how much you like Vladof! Did I give you a good deal or what? You use it much yet?"

"Oh. Right. That. Yeah, absolutely. I love it. I think it might be my new favourite gun, although I'm still very attached to that old shotgun of mine." I replied. That was weird. I couldn't believe how far gone I was. Of course Marcus meant the rifle and not Mordecai, the sniper. Jeez.

"Ah, that's good to hear. You're racking up an unusual amount of weapons lately, what are you up to, hm?" he asked with a smirk on his face. Uh oh. I knew that smirk. That meant you better give him a plausible answer or things might get ugly. I mean, yeah, I got more guns than usual, but that was mostly because I had found a new hobby: killing bandits with Mordecai.

"I just made some friends and we cleared out a few bandit camps. Found a bunch of weapons, so I went and sold them. You know I'm aching to get off this god-forsaken rock, right?" I replied. Hopefully that was plausible enough, but also vague enough for him. He was too curious for his own good.

"Sure. It's the Vault Hunters, isn't it? Crazy people, all four of them. But they survived for longer than others. I like them." he said.

"Yeah, they're pretty neat, I guess. I don't know, I only ever really hung out with Mordecai and I guess a little with Lilith. But they all seem alright, I suppose. Surprised they're still alive. But then again, I'm still alive and I'm kind of shit at surviving."

"Oh no, no, no, you're not! Why else would you still be here?"

"I dunno. Guess I was pretty lucky or something. I mean, considering that I'm from a planet of luxury and debauchery and I came here fully and completely unprepared and all." I said, shrugging. Okay, fair enough, my family was by no means rich or anything. I did live on a vacation planet and grew up there, but my family was resort staff. I mean, they didn't make the greatest money. Still, luxury and debauchery were pretty much all around me when I grew up.

Pandora was a different kind of unfortunate, everything considered. I didn't come here not knowing anything about life, but I definitely didn't know how to handle guns or how to hunt skags or how to filter water. I knew nothing about living on a hostile planet like Pandora. All I learned back home was how to spread my legs and get some nice and comfortable shit from rich businessmen. But I basically learned that only because I was bored and stupid and liked the attention.

"If you landed on Pandora, you most certainly weren't lucky!" Marcus exclaimed, followed by a hearty laugh.

"Yeah, but I could have landed in the middle of a bandit clan. Or in a rakk nest." I countered. I mean, some people would consider me as having landed in the middle of a bandit clan, but I begged to differ.

When I got to Pandora I ended up in some tundra wasteland. I was lucky to be found by some nomad people, otherwise I would have died of dehydration or starvation fairly soon. The people who found me could have been worse, as well. They taught me a lot of useful stuff, especially when it came to guns, hunting and explosives. I taught them repairs for their simple machinery.

I stayed with them for almost two years, right after I arrived on Pandora. I'm not sure why they took me in, maybe it was because of my engineering knowledge, maybe it was because they felt sorry for me. I would have probably stayed with them for longer, if it wasn't for bandit raids in the area. Sure, they told me I'd be safe with them, but what else would they say? I just packed up one night and went to use the fast travel station to the Middle of Nowhere.

That was one of the first times I ever used one. I didn't like it then and I still don't like it now. But I needed to get out of the wasteland fast and that was the only way at the time. That's how I ended up in the Middle of Nowhere.

So yes, I was pretty lucky with where I landed. It could have been so much worse. I was with friendly people who were at peace with most other bandit clans and never stayed long enough in one place to make enemies. Sometimes I wanted to slap myself for being scared and leaving them to get a house in the Middle of Nowhere. But if I was honest, it was getting very exhausting to travel constantly after a while anyways, so I would have left sooner or later.

"Whatever you say, girl. So... do you think they'll find the Vault?" Marcus asked with a glimmer in his eyes. I was sure he was going to make a bet out of it if I wasn't careful enough.

"I don't know, Marcus. I mean, how sure are we it even exists? And I mean, even if it does, they might find it or not. I haven't really thought about it much. It literally has no impact on my life whatsoever, honestly." I replied. And that was true. Whether they'd find the vault or not wouldn't really make any life-altering difference to me.

That aside, I was surprisingly positive that they would find the vault. They seemed capable and set on finding it and I sure hoped that whatever was in there would make them happy or whatever. But if I had told Marcus that, he'd probably have tried to rope me into a bet of some sorts and I didn't want to afford that.

"Hmm. I see. I guess we'll just have to wait until we see some results, right?" he said. I nodded. He didn't seem very happy that I didn't fall for his attempts to get some money out of me. But I'd known Marcus for long enough now. If he wanted to trick me, he needed to put some more effort into it.

"Yeah, I suppose so. Now, I'll better get going, or I won't make it home before the night cycle. I have to go and get a Catch-A-Ride anyways." I answered and rolled my eyes. I really didn't like getting Scooter's cars. I liked being independent and borrowing his cars always made me feel like I somehow owed him. Plus, he always hated it if people broke his runners and I always felt guilty if that happened.

"What happened to your old car?" Marcus asked.

"Left it at home. It's kind of a long story. See, I went with one of my new friends to go hunting and we kinda got drunk and raided that bandit camp and basically passed out there, woke up late the next day, Catch-A-Ride exploded, so we had to go and get a new one and then I stayed here for the night, so... yeah. I need to get another one to get back to my house." I explained. This was one hell of an unbelievable story and I didn't really want to go into detail, because I knew Marcus would go and tell everyone and exaggerate it hugely.

"You still don't like Fast Travel?"

I violently shook my head.

"No, and I doubt I ever will."

"Have you tried it again at all? After you threw up that one time?"

I shook my head again.

"I'll try it. One day. When I have literally no other choice. But as for now? I'll take the car, thanks very much."

"You're a funny one, aren't you? Ah well, one day you'll have to use it. And it'll be fine, trust me."

"If you say so. Anyways. I'll take my leave for today. See you around, Marcus!" I said as I grabbed my money from the table.

"See you, girl."

I could barely manage to stuff all the cash into my pockets. It was an excessive amount of money, but the thought of having to relinquish some of it to Scooter for the car we blew up made me sad.

I walked out of Marcus' shop into the hot, blazing sun. It was only then I realized how terrible I must have smelled this whole time. I mean, I didn't wash myself for like three days at this stage and I had been absolutely shitfaced in-between. Combine that with Pandora's climate and even thinking of it was repulsive.

I shuddered a little and started walking towards Scooter's workshop to pay him back for his runner. He always complained about people blowing his cars up, so every time it happened to me, I felt really bad - not that it happened a lot.

Still, I felt compelled to go and make some amends for it. Scooter and I had somewhat of a history after all. Okay, everyone had history with Scooter, but still. I was at least trying to be a decent person. I really hoped, I would still have a good margin of savings left over after this.


	12. Chapter 11 or No Strings Attached

_song: The Beat - Save It For Later_

A day or two later I woke up during the night from some noise on the roof of my house. It sounded like a scratching noise, some tapping... probably rakk. I groaned and turned around in my bed, but with the noise on my roof I just couldn't fall asleep again. I sighed in frustration and slowly rolled out of bed.

I really wasn't in the mood to get up in the middle of the night to shoot those rakk on my roof, but I knew I wouldn't be able to fall asleep again if I didn't. So I put on my robe and went over to my chest to get my shotgun. That bird would regret waking me up in the middle of the night.

With my shotgun over my shoulder I slowly climbed up the ladder to a hatch in the roof. I slowly and quietly opened it, trying not to get their attention before I was ready to shoot them. It sounded like it was only one, but rakk rarely went away from their group, so I figured there would be more of them around.

I carefully stuck my head outside, so my eyes could get used to the darkness. I hoisted myself onto the roof and looked around for whatever was making that noise, my shotgun ready. I heard a small caw, as I turned around and looked straight at...

"Bloodwing?"

I put down my shotgun quickly and climbed onto my roof. What was Bloodwing doing here on his own? I couldn't believe I almost shot him. And I don't think I could have lived with myself if I did.

"Hey, buddy. What are you doing here? Are you all on your own? Where is Mordecai?" I asked. Bloodwing cawed and hopped over to me, looking at me expectantly. I smiled at the bird, he was just too cute.

"Do you want a treat? I'll have to see, if I still have some skag meat..." I said to him. I repeated to myself over and over how I couldn't believe I almost shot him. That would have been really, really bad. Bloodwing just cawed and bit my hand. I flinched and quickly pulled it away. Bloodwing looked at me again.

"Do you want me to pet you?"

I heard an enthusiastic caw, so I slowly stretched out my hand and started gently scratching his neck. Bloodwing looked happy. But it made me somewhat uneasy that Mordecai hadn't turned up yet. I barely ever saw Bloodwing without him, so I started getting worried. Who knew whether he was still alive. People died under the strangest circumstances here and even someone like Mordecai, who had managed to stay alive for so long, wasn't safe by any means. I wondered if he'd just turn up from somewhere just to give me a fright or if there was something wrong and Bloodwing was trying to tell me about it.

"So what's a pretty lady doing all alone on a roof at this time of the night?" I suddenly heard a well-known voice behind me say. Speaking of the devil. Or rather thinking. Even though I had almost expected something like that to happen, I still got a bit of a fright and jumped a little. I slowly turned around.

There was Mordecai, a big fat grin on his face, standing on top of my roof. He looked a little beat up, surprisingly. I probably just stared at him for a full minute or something. For some reason I did expect him to just turn up, but I also somehow didn't. Then again, him turning up out of nowhere was a regular occurrence at this stage. Maybe I needed to get used to it.

"Mordecai." I finally managed to blurt out.

"That's my name."

"How did you get on my roof? I mean, why can't you just knock on the door, like, you know, a normal person?"

"What fun would that be?" he said, big grin still on his face, as he walked over to me. I sighed and sat down with my legs crossed. Mordecai sat down beside me and absentmindedly petted Bloodwing. I laughed a little. I remembered why I enjoyed his company so much.

"You look kinda beat up." I mentioned. He nodded.

"Fighting Flynt was tougher than we thought. But we made it. We were ratted out, though." he answered, the grin on his face changing into a grim look. Being ratted out on Pandora was kind of something that you'd expect, but not from everyone. I was curious what exactly happened.

"By who?"

"Tannis."

"Really? Why would she do that? And who did she rat you out to?"

"To Atlas. And we're trying to find out why. Which means we have to get to the Atlas facilities. I think we're leaving tomorrow." he answered, lying down and looking up into the night sky. We were both quiet for a while. I never had much to do with Patricia Tannis. Firstly, because she was always somewhat out there mentally, and secondly, because she was also out of everyone's way. You just didn't see her much, unless you went looking for her specifically.

I knew she had worked for Dahl when she arrived here and she had become obsessed with the Vault and with Eridians until she finally became more or less insane. She seemed friendly enough, though. And I couldn't really see why she would want Atlas to get involved. After all, she wanted to find the Vault more than anyone. Or so I thought. Maybe I was wrong.

"Why'd you come here?" I finally asked, as I made myself comfortable by lying down next to Mordecai. I figured we probably wouldn't get down from the roof anytime soon and that was okay. It was a beautiful night - mild and with a sky full of stars.

"I didn't wanna be around people. Needed some time away from everyone." he answered quietly.

"Uh... I don't know if you noticed, but... I am people.", I replied with a slight smile on my lips. I was a little confused. Mordecai was a strange man sometimes and I knew he was a loner, but _why_ would he come to me of all people?

"Yeah, but you know when to talk and when to shut up." he answered. I turned my head to look at him. He was still looking up into the sky, his head resting on his folded arms. I noticed a rather fresh cut on one of his arms that must have been from their latest fight. There were a few other scars on his arms. He looked so peaceful and deep in thought in this moment.

"Wait, did you just say you like me? In your own weird way?" I asked, smiling a little. He shrugged.

"Yeah."

I looked back at the sky again. It was a clear night and you could actually see an incredible amount of stars. The first time I looked I hadn't even noticed how clear the sky was. I had spent some nights lying on my roof and looking at the stars before, but today it was different.

They used to make me sad. They had always reminded me of how I was stuck on this planet and of all the planets that were still out there and were arguably better than Pandora. Tonight I didn't feel sad. I wasn't even angry anymore that I was stuck here. It was like I suddenly realized how lucky I was to still be alive and how beautiful Pandora could be, despite all the bandits, the killing, the desert and the wildlife that tried to kill you every day.

I don't really know what brought this change of mind, maybe it was seeing the stars like that, maybe it was Mordecai and feeling like someone actually was a good friend, maybe it was Bloodwing's claws clicking on my roof or maybe it was the fact that this Vault seemed to be real and it meant there was a whole different world out there we barely knew anything about.

"Wow." I whispered, more to myself than to Mordecai.

"Wow what?" he asked, looking at me again. He had taken off his mask and goggles at some stage, without me noticing. Presumably while I was busy and distracted, looking at the stars and thinking about life.

"I'm not sure, really. That kinda applied to two things." I answered, looking back at him, and yet again noticing his deep brown eyes. I felt like I could get lost in them for years and still be safe.

"Which would be?"

"Well, first of all, you don't really look like the type to _like_ someone..."

"I like lots of people. Sometimes."

"Yeah, but you wouldn't really say it to them."

Mordecai shrugged and just answered: "I guess."

"So that was surprising. And secondly, wow to the stars. They look really beautiful and I think I never properly appreciated them, even though I was looking at them a lot." I continued, at the risk of sounding really cheesy.

"They are beautiful, yes." he replied and a rather long silence between us followed. There was a strange feeling in the air, as if this was to be the last time we could just hang out together. Like we both wanted to say something, but didn't know how. Until Mordecai finally seemed to have figured it out.

"Okay, let's cut the bullshit." he said and sat up. I did the same, a little unsure as to where this was going.

"What bullshit?" I asked. Inside I kind of knew where this was going, but I was still a little dumbfounded. I hadn't really expected Mordecai to turn up at my place so soon again and I certainly hadn't expected this.

"We both know there's a good chance I'm not goin' to survive the whole business with Atlas. And shit, I mean, this sounds sleazy as hell, but I think you're really fuckin' hot. And I guess, we're both old enough, so... it's been a long time for me and from what you told me, it's been a long time for you, too. So... "

"Are you asking me if I wanna fuck?"

"Yeah. No strings attached, of course. As friends, if you wanna call it that. And no hard feelings if you say no." he answered, a smug grin on his face. Shit. I really liked Mordecai and I thought he was incredibly hot... and it was true - there was a chance that he wouldn't make it back alive. I really, really wanted him.

"That's the third wow for tonight." I answered, a smug grin making its way onto my face. Mordecai laughed a little.

"So, what do you say?"

"Shit, man, it _has_ been a really long time. Let's do it." I replied. I felt myself getting nervous after that. I really hoped we could still hang out as usual and all and I just wasn't sure if this was the right thing, but I figured my hormones were stronger than my brain at this moment.

"Let's see if we can get your wow count to four." he commented and watched me get up and open the little hatch leading down into my house. I looked back at Mordecai who was still sitting at his spot, watching me with a small smile on his face.

"Maybe we can get it even higher than four." I replied and winked at him. I could see him laughing to himself and getting up to follow me down from the roof and into the bedroom.


	13. Chapter 12 or Killing Time

_song: Hillstomp - Life I Want_

When I woke up the next morning, I had no concept of what time of day it was. The sun was shining brightly through my small window. My first urge was to turn around and continue sleeping, when it hit me.

Mordecai. Last night. Oh God. I quickly sat up and looked around the room. Nothing. He probably had left already. In any case, he was nowhere to be seen or heard. The worst thing about that was that it made me feel miserable. It wasn't supposed to make me feel anything.

But the fact that he was gone now and there was a good chance he might die somewhere at some Crimson Lance outpost made me feel terrible. For years and years I could pull the same shit and not feel even a little bit bad the morning after. I didn't really feel anything the morning after and that's the way it was supposed to be. I should have known better than to catch feelings.

With an exasperated sigh I got out of bed and sat down in the chair opposite my bed. I really didn't feel like doing anything at all today. As I lazily looked over all the stuff that was lying around on my table, I noticed a piece of paper, that was lying in the middle of the only spot I had left free (because I usually put my plates there when I ate). I squinted at it and picked it up slowly.

It seemed to be a note, scribbled on the back of one of the few leftover Moxxi posters I had. I had made a nice bit of money putting them up all around the badlands for her, but I still had a few lying around the place. I looked down at the note. I had never seen it before, so Mordecai must have left it. His handwriting was terrible, so it took me a while to decipher the note.

 _Nova. I'm off to the old Atlas outposts._ _When_ _If I get back, I'm hoping to see you again. We'll have to go drunk-hunting again._

 _There's a big stash of cash hidden in and around the little container. If I know you right, you'll find it easily. I want you to have it, if I'm not back. Take it and get off this hellish rock. It's no place to be for a pretty girl like you._

 _See you 'round (hopefully),_

 _Mordecai_

 _PS: I mean, I've heard how everyone fawns over Moxxi, but I don't get it. All that makeup makes her look kinda fake. What do people like so much? Is it just the tits?_

I laughed out loud when I read that. I had asked myself the same question about Moxxi for ages until I actually saw her in person and heard her talk. That woman had an incredible amount of charisma and her voice could probably make me do anything. I didn't know why, but something made her voice hypnotizing. I had to take Mordecai to the Underdome to see it for himself. If he made it back.

Even just thinking that made me feel sick to the stomach. I had to get out of this place, no matter how much I felt like just staying in bed all day. I needed to be with people. I didn't even care with who. New Haven seemed like a good place to go. Fyrestone was another option.

I quickly grabbed some clothes from the floor before I could think twice about it. I had to get out today and maybe even stay away for a longer time. I'd get too depressed otherwise. As I made my way to the bathroom, I stopped to look into my floor-length mirror (which had one big crack in it when I got it, but it was still quite useful and surprisingly intact - for Pandora).

There I was. A very natural looking olive skin tone I've never had in my life before I came to Pandora. Thin waist, still curvy in the right places, but I looked older. I spotted a few wrinkles in my face, along with my fair share of scars. My dark brown hair was some mess of dreadlocks, braids and twisted strands that somehow didn't look like I had been living in a cave for 5 years. I guess for Pandoran standards I looked somewhat decent, but on my home planet I would have been looking like a drug-addicted whore. Funnily enough, that's probably what most people would have described me as back home, whereas now I was clean. Interesting, how some things change.

I shook my head a little and continued what I was going to do. Getting cleaned up, getting dressed and ready to leave for a while. I spent a lot of time thinking on what guns to take with me, but I decided on my standard ones: a small handgun to carry around, an SMG for things that were moving fast, a sniper rifle and a shotgun for fun. I was thinking whether I should take a rocket launcher as well, but decided against it in the end. Too heavy, too expensive if I ended up losing it.

Geared up like that, I hopped into my car and started driving. I had made up my mind to go to New Haven. I felt like Marcus or Scooter would be nice company right now. Maybe I could go and see some race with Scooter. That sounded like something nice to distract me for now.

The car ride seemed to drag on forever. It seemed like the way to New Haven was twice as long today, but maybe that was just because I was on my own with only my rifles and my thoughts. I still couldn't believe I might've caught feelings. This would probably be so bad in the long run. The amount of problems that came with feelings was overwhelming, I knew from experience.

I would end up being annoying, getting jealous and what not. Mordecai would end up hating me for it, we'd fight, we wouldn't be friends anymore and Pandora would be terrible again. I just had to keep my mouth shut and deal with it, somehow. There was no way I could tell him.

I was relieved, once I had made it all the way to New Haven without being chased around by bandit patrols or anything of the sort. At least that was easy today. I left the car just outside the fence and made my way into the settlement and straight to Scooter's workshop. Hanging out with him would probably be distracting enough. Plus, it always made me feel better.

As I got there he was just sitting in his chair, hat over his eyes and his feet on the table, probably asleep. I smiled and knocked on the table. He jumped a little in his chair, but regained his composure fairly quickly. He pushed the hat out of his face and onto his head again and looked at me.

"Hey, Nova, man, good to see ya! Whatcha doin' here, all on your own, man?" he asked with a big smile on his face.

"Hey, Scooter. Just didn't feel like being on my own. Do you mind if I hang with you for a while? I can help you with some repairs, if you've got any work...?" I answered, a sheepish smile still on my face.

"Awww, man, sure, come on in. I've just had a bit of a lunch break and had a little nap, but there's lotsa work to do, if you wanna." he answered with a big smile on his face. It was so easy to make Scooter happy, which was one of the things I had always liked about him. He was a genuinely good guy.

"Thanks. I would've brought some drinks, if I still had any."

"You're all good, man, I've got some in the fridge, if ya want any?"

"I'm already mooching way too much off you, Scooter."

"Nah, not at all, man. Listen, you make yourself comfortable and Imma go and getcha some rakk ale." he said and started walking off towards his fridge. I shook my head laughing.

"You're too good for this planet, man."

He just waved at me and walked off with a laugh. I shook my head, wondering how someone like Scooter had managed to survive this long. Then I remembered he was Moxxi's son and there were probably few people who wanted to try and mess with Moxxi. Everyone who knew her or even only knew of her had a good bit of healthy respect for her. Harming her son would not go down well for them.

I wandered into the workshop and saw why Scooter seemed so eager to get my help. There were three of his runners and they were all incredibly beat up. This would take a few days to fix. I turned around and had a look at Scooter's desk. There was some paperwork on the runners, he had already sorted them according to priority. There were also a few letters, some official looking and some that seemed to be love letters. That made me smile a little. Scooter's love letters were terrible, but you had to appreciate the effort he put into them.

He had a few notes pinned to his wall, some photographs, and last, but not least, his calendar of nude chicks and cars. Mine and Scooter's taste usually varied quite a bit, but the girl this month looked pretty good, I had to admit. I turned around quickly as I heard some steps and the clinking of bottles.

" 'ight, now you sit down and have your ale and tell me what's got you upset." he said, holding out a bottle to me. I grinned and took it - it was still cold from the fridge, which was just perfect.

"Thanks. How come you think I'm upset?"

"Ya always come over when you're upset or bored and ya don't seem bored today. What's up, hm?"

I sighed and sat down cross-legged on the floor. I guess it was story time.


	14. Chapter 13 or A Failed Booze Run

_song: The Glitch Mob - Drive It Like You Stole It_

"Still no news?" Scooter asked as I slowly wandered back into his workshop. I shook my head. It was a sad scene, really. I had spent three days at Scooter's now, barely sleeping and barely eating, but drinking a lot. He only just managed to convince me to finally take a bath last evening.

I kept running around New Haven in the morning, to see whether I could find out some news on the Vault Hunters. But nothing. No one knew anything. I had even made my way up to Tannis' little hut and could only gather that they had actually survived the Atlas facilities.

That was at least some good news, but apparently they right away left to find the Vault, running after some Atlas commander, so the chance of them surviving still wasn't great. I had at this stage almost given up hope and consumed nearly all of Scooter's rakk ale. Which meant I would have to go on a booze run with him soon. Possibly even today, although I didn't feel like it at all.

"Aw, man, sorry 'bout that. Whatcha gonna do?" Scooter asked. I had just barely been able to make up a convincing story on why I hoped that Mordecai (and the others, of course) would come back without making things really, really awkward. I shrugged in response to his question. I had no damn clue what I was going to do. Probably wait around a few more days.

"Ya can't just sit around like that! Ya got me worried, man. Ya need to do sumthin'!" Scooter said.

"I don't know what, Scooter. I have no idea. I can't focus on things right now. I mean, don't you have a few more cars we can fix?" I replied.

"Ya ain't in any shape to be fixin' cars, girl.", he answered. I sighed. He was right. I was so tired, I had started hallucinating slightly. Seeing things out of the corner of my eye. And I had been shitfaced for three days straight, since I hadn't eaten anything, but lived off of booze.

"Well, what do you suggest then?" I asked.

"Booze run." Scooter replied and packed up some of his things. I groaned quietly. I knew he'd say that.

"And I'm in shape for that?" I countered, hoping I'd be spared, since I most definitely couldn't drive.

"No."

"Then why do you think it's a good idea?"

"'Cause ya barely gotta do anythin' and ya might find out sumthin' more gettin' out of town and all." he said. I was about to protest, when I paused. He did have a point. Maybe some people out there knew what was going on.

"That's actually a good idea. Damn. Alright, let's do it. I'll just finish drinking my dumb bitch juice." I said. Scooter grinned at me.

"Aw, c'mon. We're all a lil' silly sometimes." he replied. I laughed a little. Out of all the people on Pandora, Scooter was probably the purest.

"Yeah, but I am especially so. Anyways, lemme grab my stuff and then let's go." I answered and got up from the ground. I needed to get my guns and some water. Time to do this. I hoped I wouldn't throw up from all the rakk ale I had been drinking. I hoped I wouldn't pass out...

As soon as I had grabbed all my stuff, I jumped into the runner that Scooter had digistructed for us. He had already taken the driver seat and for once I was grateful for that, since I probably would have fallen asleep behind the wheel and killed us both. It was better this way.

"Ya ready?" Scooter asked, a big smile on his face.

"Absolutely." I answered. I did feel an instant relief as we made our way out of New Haven. I really should have listened to Scooter and done this sooner. I still didn't think I would get any new information, but just getting out for a while actually helped. Hell, even just leaving the workshop made me feel better.

"Ya 'ight back there?" I heard Scooter shouting over the loud car noises. I took a deep breath of some good old stinking Pandoran air.

"Yeah, I'm good." I replied, looking out over the desert wasteland. Man, if Mordecai really wouldn't come back, I'd finally get off this damned rock and spend the rest of the cash on drugs and booze. I was so done with Pandora.

On the other hand, if Mordecai was still alive and well out there, then maybe it wasn't so bad to stay. I had thought about leaving the planet way less, since we started hanging out. But if he was still alive, then they would have found the Vault and he'd probably be leaving anyways. Which meant that I'd stay behind, since I still didn't have enough money to go somewhere else that wasn't Promethea.

"Hey, can ya maybe, ya know, take out them rakk up there?" Scooter suddenly interrupted my thoughts. Shit. Rakk were the worst. They were constantly moving and they were tiny, it was incredibly difficult to hit them. But to hell with it. I was in the gunner seat, so I had to try my best.

"I'll see what I can do." I murmured as I aimed at the swarm of rakk in the sky. Maybe the blast of the rocket launcher would bring down a few of them. I breathed in and out quietly and held my breath after breathing out, so I could get a shot as steady as possible. I actually hit the wing of one of them, but thankfully the explosion got four or five that collapsed and fell from the sky.

"Hey, you got 'em!" Scooter shouted. I smiled.

"I was just lucky." I answered, as something hit me from the back. Before I could turn around to see what it was, I felt something peck the back of my neck. It felt weirdly familiar...

"Bloodwing?" I said surprised, more to myself than to anyone else. I heard a loud caw right behind me and was pecked a second time. I quickly turned around to see Bloodwing sitting on the car and holding on for dear life. I just stared at him completely dumbfounded, until I got another reminder in the form of a peck.

"Scooter, slow down!" I shouted to the front.

"Why, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Just do it!"

"Okay, okay..." he said and hit the brakes. I held my hands around Bloodwing, scared that he'd have trouble holding onto the car with his claws. It was unnecessary, since Bloodwing just remained completely calm and didn't move an inch. Looks like he was used to some reckless car maneuvers.

"What's up?" Scooter asked, turning around as the car had come to a standstill. I pointed at Blood.

"Mordecai's bird. He just landed on the car. Something's up." I explained.

"He doesn't bite you?"

"He does, sometimes. But it seems he's getting used to me." I replied, looking at Bloodwing, who gave me an uneasy caw.

"What's up, Blood? Where's Mordecai?" I asked. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Scooter raising an eyebrow at me, as if I was some crazy person. I probably was, talking to a bird and all. But to hell with it. If Bloodwing was here, it either meant that Mordecai couldn't be far or that something was wrong and I was about to find out. I hoped nothing was wrong.

Bloodwing's screams seemed slightly agitated. Not a good sign. He started flying a few circles around my head and landed again. What was he trying to tell me...? It took my drunk brain a good few moments until I finally made sense of it.

"You want us to follow you?" I asked. I got an encouraging caw from him. He hopped over to Scooter and gave him a small peck on the shoulder.

"Ouch!" Scooter exclaimed pulling back his arm.

"That's how he shows he likes you. You think you can follow him? He wants us to come with him." I said.

"I sure can."

"Perfect. Let's do it." I replied, nodding at Bloodwing to go on and lead the way for us. He cawed and started flying ahead, as we followed. Once we drove away, I felt myself getting more and more worried. I really hoped we weren't going to come back to any corpses. I couldn't decide whether Bloodwing finding me was a good or a bad sign. I doubted he would leave Mordecai behind on his own...

Unless it was already too late, of course. But then, why would Bloodwing go looking for anyone at all? It didn't make much sense either way. My thoughts kept going in circles like that, until Scooter finally stopped the car. I looked around and saw Bloodwing sitting on top of the entrance to some cave.

I grabbed my SMG and quickly jumped out of the car, following Bloodwing into the cave. After a few turns we got to a part that was brightly lit by a hole in the rock above. Bloodwing landed somewhere in the distance and just sat there.

As I got closer I saw four figures, one of them standing. Brick was the one standing. Lilith was lying on her back, holding her side; Roland was kneeling beside her, looking at some wounds. And then I finally saw Mordecai leaning against the rock Bloodwing had landed on.


	15. Chapter 14 or Playing It Cool (Not)

_song: Woodkid - Iron_

I don't know how long I stood there, just staring at Mordecai and Lilith. I had completely blacked out at that moment. I always thought of myself as someone who'd stay cool in situations like this and could do exactly what I was supposed to do without thinking about it too much. Saving the day kind of shit.

But here I was, just standing around and staring without a clue what was happening and why it was happening or what to do about it. I was probably the most useless person in that cave, and that meant a lot seeing as two people looked to be severely wounded. I guess it just came as a shock to me to see them like this.

"Did you manage to bring some health vials or healing kits?" Roland asked me, helping me to snap out of it.

"I... no, was I supposed to?" I replied. Roland looked at me a little confused.

"How did you get here?"

"I was on a booze run with Scooter, since I drank all of his rakk ale and then Bloodwing found me on the way and we followed him. And this is how we got here." I said, nodding towards a panting Scooter who had just arrived at the scene.

"Hey y'all." he said and waved a little.

"Do you have any sort of medicine on you at all?" Roland asked.

"I think I might have a healing kit or two back in the car." Scooter said and started jogging back out of the cave. I felt through my belt pouches and pockets and managed to find two small health vials. I was lucky they didn't break in there, because that usually happened to them when I was holding onto them. I needed to learn to be more careful with my health vials.

"I've only got these two with me." I said and gave them to Roland. I finally managed to somewhat realise what was going on. They had been trying to get to the Vault. There were no ECHO messages from Atlas about finding the Vault, so they must have beat them to it. They got harmed badly.

"What happened? Are Mordecai and Lilith okay?" I asked.

"They're alive." Brick said from the background. I nodded. Well, that was some good news at least. Somewhat. Alive was better than dead, but I still didn't know if they were okay or not.

"Just a little wounded, we're fine." I heard Mordecai say, his voice hoarser than usual and weak. He was coughing after he said that. I looked over at him and he gave me a little smile, but I could see that he was in a lot of pain. Damned bastard. Why would he get hurt so badly?

"You can barely walk, Mordy." Brick said.

"What happened?" I repeated my question. I was so confused. From what Tannis said they had easily survived the Atlas facilities. What the hell was guarding that stupid Vault? Something must have gone wrong there.

"It's a long story. I think right now we need to get Lilith and Mordecai to Zed, so he can patch them up. We can't possibly make it to the next Catch-A-Ride with them in this condition. Can you and Scooter get there and get us a car or two?" Roland asked. I nodded quickly, as I heard Scooter come running back with his two healing kits. A car, sure. I could do that.

"Sure thing. Will you be okay until then? What's the plan?" I asked, feeling myself getting panicked again. Surprisingly, I've never really had to deal with heavily injured people. They were either dead, lightly injured or I was the wounded one. I had no idea how insecure the lack of a clear plan made me.

"You stay calm and go to the nearest Catch-A-Ride with Scooter. You get a second car digistructed while Scooter gets back here and gets Mordy to Zed. You go and get Lilith. Me and Brick can make it to the Catch-A-Ride, but we don't want to leave these two alone in here. Someone needs to take care of them with their injuries." Roland said. I nodded. Okay, that sounded good.

"Alright. Let's go, Scooter." I said, grabbing him by the shoulder and speed-walking my way out of the cave with him.

"Woah, woah, woah. What happened to 'em?" he asked me. I shrugged. I still didn't know, but it wasn't that important for now.

"No clue. Roland says it's a long story. We gotta help them out first, I guess." I said, at this stage jogging back through the cave.

"The Catch-A-Ride shouldn't be too far. Maybe a 10-minute drive." Scooter said.

"That's good." I replied, panting and breathing heavily, as I climbed into the gunner seat. I really was out of shape.

"Man, this is gonna be such an awesome story to tell!" Scooter said excitedly as he got into the car. In my panicked state everything he did seemed to be in slow motion, which made me even more nervous than before.

"Yeah, it will be, but only if they live to tell the tale." I replied, chewing on my fingernails. It was a silly nervous habit I had picked up years ago, but I still couldn't get rid of it, no matter how much I tried.

"Yeah, right. Man, this is all happ'nin' so fast, wow." Scooter mused as he turned on the car. While we were driving my mind wandered back to the Vault Hunters. Lilith seemed to be wounded pretty badly, it had looked like she had gotten a shot in her side. There had definitely been a lot of blood.

I had no idea what kind of wounds the others had, but it looked pretty bad. Not even Roland and Brick seemed to be in a very good condition, although their injuries didn't seem to be as severe. I really hoped that they would be okay, all of them, but especially Mordecai. I sort of comforted myself by thinking about how at least they weren't dead... yet.

It took quite a while until we got there and until I had digistructed my own little runner. Maybe it just seemed to drag on for longer than usual, but it didn't help my inner panic at all. I'd probably only be able to calm down once they were all at Zed's place and I knew what had happened.

Thankfully, I felt better once I had Lilith propped up in my backseat and was on my way to Fyrestone with her. Roland and Brick were apparently planning to walk to the Catch-A-Ride, now that their friends were looked after.

They seemed to be doing okay, so I wasn't too worried. Brick seemed to be limping a tiny bit, but he was barely scratched. Roland had a nasty corrosive wound on his shoulder, but it looked like it would heal up alright with some health vials and a few bandages from a med kit.

"So, do you always panic like that?" I heard Lilith say from the back. Her voice was cracking a little, but she was holding it together fairly well. She coughed a lot and I just hoped it wasn't blood, but I figured that it probably would be.

"Uh... I dunno. I've rarely ever been in a situation like that, so I really can't say. Seems like I do always panic like that." I answered.

"Wow, shit, and I thought you were gonna say something cute about Mordecai or something." she answered, a slight smile on her face. Oh my God, did she know we had...? No, probably not. She knew I had a thing for him, though, so I guessed that's where this was coming from.

"Why would I do that?" I replied, trying to keep my cool. I mean, yeah, _that night_ had happened and all, but no one really knew about that, so I wouldn't go telling people if I didn't have to.

"Thought he was staying at yours. And he definitely looked as if it was a good night when he got back to us."

I cursed under my breathe. There went my plan of keeping this thing with Mordecai on the down low. Fucking bastard.

"Well, I certainly don't have any reason to complain..." I mumbled, a smile forming on my face as I thought back.

"Wow. I didn't think you'd actually go for my advice, that's kinda new. People tend to not listen to me." Lilith said with a big grin on her face. I sighed, as she started to cough loudly from talking.

"Well, I usually never ever take advice, so consider this an honour.", I replied and she laughed, making her cough even more.

"Wow. I feel very honoured. Thanks.", she replied weakly.

"That being said, here is my statement on me being as incompetent as I was back there... I mean, I've lived solely on booze and some crackers for like 3 days and I slept maybe 6 hours in those 3 days. Combined. Add that to me being the kind of person I am, I mean... what I'm saying, is that I totally didn't panic because of Mordecai, okay?" I clumsily tried to play it cool.

"Sure. Gotcha. You totally panicked because of Mordy." she said with a big grin on her face. I sighed loudly.

"Fine. I fucked up. I might have caught some feelings. Shit happens. Just don't go around spreading the word, okay? I'd rather have Mordy as a good friend. Like, with benefits. No feelings allowed."

"Wow, you're a bad bitch. Do you, like, not believe in relationships or something?" she asked.

"They never last long for me and they rarely go well."

"Why is that?"

"I don't know. I just... I put a lot of effort into getting someone, but once I have them... I just get bored real easy. I'm more in for the thrill of the hunt, if you catch my drift."

"What a Mordy thing to say. You guys seem to get on really well, though. But anyways, that's not really any of my business."

"Yeah, I was gonna ask, why do you care?" I replied and looked back at her. We weren't far from Fyrestone, so I was anxious to wrap up this conversation. And Lilith seemed to be really concerned about Mordecai's feelings.

"Mordy has become like a big brother for me. Most of the time he annoys me, but when I need to talk to someone he's just a really good listener and always throws in a sarcastic comment as well. I'd hate to see him get hurt. You know? He's kind of a dick, but a lovable dick." she answered. I nodded.

"I see. Well, I'll keep that in mind. I don't plan to hurt him, if that's what you're concerned about." I said and she nodded.

"Good."


	16. Chapter 15 or An Anticlimactic Story

_song: Pearl Jam - Alive_

"One second, I'll fix that..."

"AAAAGGHH! For fuck's sake, better fix it fast!"

Lilith and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows, before we came any closer to Zed's little hut in Fyrestone. Mordecai didn't sound like a very pleasant patient to be around. Then again, that might be because of Zed's unorthodox methods.

Both of them looked up as we walked in. Well, I walked in, more or less dragging Lilith along with me. She wasn't too enthusiastic about seeing Zed and she couldn't walk far either. But I wasn't strong enough to carry her, so all I could really do was support her while limping inside and hoping for the best.

"You bringing me more?" Zed asked, looking a little too happy about this new development.

"Yup." I answered and looked around for a chair or something for Lilith to sit down. She wasn't doing too well, as she had been slipping in and out of consciousness a few times during the last few kilometres to Fyrestone.

"Put her over there and give her a blanket or something." Zed answered and rammed a health vial into Mordecai's veins, which he growled at unhappily. I helped Lilith sit down on the floor and propped her up against some small boxes, before I started looking around for something to keep her warm.

"What happened to her?" Zed asked me while he was still patching up Mordecai. I shrugged.

"Not sure what exactly happened to her, but it looks like she was shot in her left side. Probably some concussions, too, I don't know. No idea." I answered and pulled something out of a locker that resembled a woollen blanket. I went over to Lilith and wrapped her up in that blanket as good as I could.

"Thanks. Some... some water, please?" Lilith asked. I nodded and went looking around for some bottled water, thankfully finding some pretty quickly. I got back to her, gave her the water and sat down beside her.

"You think they'll be okay, Zed?" I asked.

"They'll be just fine. This one here's got some nasty wounds, but nothing I can't fix." he answered.

"That's good." I replied, feeling quite relieved to hear that. Even though Zed didn't have a medical license, he did a good job. Most of the time. At least with things like bullet wounds and all kinds of wounds you could get on Pandora. I wouldn't trust him to deliver a child or to actually amputate a limb or anything complicated like that, but stitching someone up? Yeah, Zed was good at that. And he was the closest thing to a medical professional that Pandora had at the moment.

"Told you I was fine... hnnng." Mordecai said, his face twisted from pain. I kinda doubted that.

"Nova and I both heard you scream earlier, Mordy." Lilith said weakly with a grin on her face.

"Well, you didn't almost fall off a cliff, Lil." he said.

"You didn't get shot."

"Yes, I did."

"Bullshit. When?"

"Just before-"

"Guys, relax. Mordecai, your secret is absolutely safe with me. No need to make a competition of who's got it worse." I said.

"Thanks. See, Lil, that's how you're a nice person." Mordecai answered.

"Pfft, of course. Your secret's not safe with me, Mordy." Lilith just said with a smirk on her face.

"I get the impression both of you are feeling way too good, already." I murmured, more to myself than to anyone else. Lilith and Mordecai really did behave just like siblings and for some reason it made me kinda happy. I had a younger sister, but I never had much of a relationship with her.

"Where are Roland and Brick?" Mordecai asked, changing the topic.

"I think they're walking to the Catch-A-Ride. That is, if Scooter hasn't picked them up yet. He echoed me that he was going to go back and see if he could get them and drive them back here." I answered.

"Idiots, they shouldn't be walking." Mordecai mumbled.

"What happened? Did you find the Vault?" I wanted to know. I had been really curious, since we found them, but now there was finally some time to hear the full story. And it could possibly distract Mordecai from whatever Zed was doing.

"We did find the Vault." he said, his voice sounding bitter.

"What was inside it? Cash? Some amazing guns?" I asked eagerly. This was amazing. All those years there had been stories of the vault and all the riches inside it. I didn't believe the stories anymore once I grew up, but now it turned out they were actually true and I felt just like a little girl again, hearing all the legends and wondering what the deal was with the Vaults.

"Nothing... there was nothing." he said.

"What... what do you mean, nothing? But all the stories..." I protested.

"I wouldn't say it was nothing, I mean it almost killed us." Lilith interjected.

"It sure di-AAAGH! Hijo de puta, WHAT are you doing, Zed?" Mordecai screamed. Zed held up a small bullet with a pair of tweezers.

"It's already over. Unless you want me to put it back in." he replied. Mordecai shook his head, breathing heavily.

"So what was in the Vault?" I asked again.

"It was... well... I don't know how to say it, honestly... I think the most accurate description would be tentacles and disappointment?" Lilith started. I raised an eyebrow at her. What was she talking about?

"Tentacles?" I asked.

"The Vault was more of a... prison." Mordecai said.

"A prison?"

"Yeah. We were at the Vault too late. Commandante Steele from the Lance had already opened the Vault, once we got there. And she and her Lance soldiers were about to have us killed when... well, when she was killed. By a tentacle."

"A tentacle?" I asked again, looking at him and Lilith in disbelief. She nodded in agreement.

"Yes, a tentacle. Went right through her heart and basically impaled her. Wasn't nice to see." she said.

"Ew. Okay. What the hell was that tentacle so?"

"It belonged to some sort of monster. Was apparently called the Destroyer. The Eridians seemed to have imprisoned it in the Vault, so it wouldn't go and destroy the universe. And the monster was all we got out of the Vault." Mordecai continued. I stared at them, not really believing what I heard. I mean, the whole Vault story was such a legend and all those stories and... all that wasn't true? There was only some sort of monster in the legendary Vault?

"It really wasn't nice. We all got shocked God-knows-how-many times. Anyways. We managed to kill that thing and..." Lilith stopped, looking at Mordecai to continue. He coughed a little, before he spoke again.

"We got some really nice guns, some cash, but that was it. And we were barely able to make it to the next fast travel station. We ended up near that cave and had to rest and you know the rest of the story." he said. I was shaking my head, still in disbelief. The legendary Vault... and all it held was some deadly monster? Wow. I thought with having lived on Pandora for that long, nothing would surprise me anymore, but I was clearly wrong. This was a big surprise and not a good one.

"Okay. Wow. That's... well, I guess that's kind of... disappointing? What are you gonna do now?" I asked.

"I don't know. I guess we'll wait until we're all healed up again. And then... who knows." Mordecai said.

"I'll have to take you to see Moxxi in person. You'll be mesmerized once you actually see her and hear her talk. Something about her voice is absolutely hypnotic. I mean, I was completely blown away when I met her in person for the first time." I said. Mordecai smiled a little.

"Doubt it, but okay. Is that why you got all those posters of her?" he asked.

"No, I was just making a bit of cash by hanging up some posters all over the badlands for her and those were the ones I had left over. That was years ago, though. We should go see the Underdome fights. You'd probably love them." I said.

"If you say so. I do like a good arena fight. I'll hold you to that." he said, a smug grin on his face.

"If you two continue like that, I'm gonna be sick." Lilith chimed in.

"Shut up, Lil." Mordecai said.

"Yeah, we all know you've got a thing for Roland." I agreed. Once I had said that everyone stopped and stared at me. Lilith started blushing violently.

"... or don't we?" I asked nervously.

"Well, I certainly didn't know." Zed replied. Lilith shook her head.

"Neither did I, but wow. Lil. Didn't know you fancied Roland." Mordecai answered with a big grin. Oops. I kinda thought that Mordecai would have known already... apparently not. My bad for spilling the tea.

"Fine, fine. If you say anything to anyone, Mordy, I'll take out your eyes and feed them to skags. Same goes for you, Nova."


	17. Chapter 16 or Things Past

_song: M.I.A. - Paper Planes_

What followed all this, was a time where everyone was sort of okay and healthy, but not okay enough to go out into the Pandoran wilderness (so basically, 90% of Pandora). Which meant everyone was at some stage hanging at my house - Lilith and Mordecai more so then the other two.

I had actually managed to get my backyard into an acceptable state, so the next few weeks we were lying around in armchairs and hammocks, drinking rakk ale and other... interesting drinks, and barbecuing skags and mushrooms. We were living the high life and for a while Pandora didn't seem that bad.

I swirled around some ice cubes in my glass, reminiscing about all this while trying to tan my legs that were sticking out from under my parasol. I looked over to the other hammock I had hung up. Mordecai seemed to just have woken up from his nap and stretched his arms, yawning.

"Slept well?" I asked, taking a sip from my drink. It was a mix of rakk ale and some pressed fruit. I had no idea if it would kill me or not, but I also didn't particularly care at this stage.

"Better than ever before." he answered, a smug grin on his face.

"Good. You want another drink?"

"Still got some."

I yawned and turned around, resting my head on my crossed arms. Maybe it would be a good idea to find a nice river and go swimming later in the day.

"Hey. Sorry I couldn't get you off Pandora." Mordecai suddenly said. Get me off Pandora? Like... how?

"Are you apologizing for not dying, because that meant I couldn't take your cash funds off you?" I asked.

"Not really. I mean, sort of. More as in, I feel bad there wasn't any big cash in the Vault and all. I mean, if there had been some big money, I might've bought you a ticket off the planet or something. But there wasn't anything, so... sorry 'bout that. Getting your hopes up and all." he answered.

"Oh, stop. I'd rather have you alive and well, than your cash. I mean, Pandora isn't even that bad right now, to be fair."

"Aw, how _sweet_ of you." he answered sarcastically. I reached over and slapped the back of his head lightly. He laughed a little.

"What was that for?"

"For you being a sarcastic asshole." I replied.

"Fair point." Mordecai said and finished his drink.

"So how come you're all still on Pandora? You've got enough cash, you could easily leave." I said.

"First of all, Lil and I need to get better. Also, I don't really know, but I'd wanna stay here for a little longer. I just got a feeling I'm not done with this place yet. There's been talk about some weird stuff going on in Old Haven and on Jakobs Cove. Might check that out with the others once I'm better." he answered.

"You don't wanna see your family or anything in between?"

"Haven't seen them since I was 14."

"Oh, wow. Why's that, if it's okay to ask?"

"Kind of a long story, but the short version is that they were on Artemis illegally for years. When I was 14 I had a huge argument with them about something stupid and ran off, stayed with a friend a few days. When I came back they were gone. Not sure if they were deported or what happened. But yeah, I've never seen them again since."

"Shit, man, that's rough. I'm sorry."

"Yeah, well, I was found at some stage and put in some stupid orphanage, but I barely spent any time there. I started going out hunting and all. I found Bloodwing back then, too." he replied, looking into his empty glass.

"Were you close with your family?" I wanted to know. For some reason, Mordecai didn't seem the type to be close to his family and I could totally empathize with that. I had my own family issues.

"I was close to my mother. Somewhat. Not so much to my father. He was... a difficult person. Got really angry over small stuff. Drank a lot. Got even angrier when he was drunk. Wasn't fun."

"Shit. That's terrible. Any siblings?"

"A younger brother, no idea what happened to him. Probably was deported with my parents. Enough about me, though, what about you? You got any family back home? Where are you even from?"

"I'm from Aquator, my parents work at the resorts there. And no, I don't think I'll ever go back to see them." I answered, cringing a little as I was thinking back to my time on Aquator. It really wasn't anything to be proud of.

"Shit, Aquator looks like an amazing place! I've always wanted to have enough cash to stay there for a vacation. Why'd you leave? And for Pandora of all places?"

"I had some really bad memories there. See, my family was really strict, especially with me, about going out, hanging around boys, parties, all that jazz. They would have preferred if I stayed at home, got married, settled down, never touched any alcohol or anything else. Anyways, I was the exact opposite. I liked going to parties and caking on makeup and going out and drinking and sleeping around. Trying all kinds of drugs. Man, I wanted to travel the whole universe. So yeah, I basically was grounded all my teenage years, but I went out anyways. And in hindsight, it wasn't good for me and I should have listened to my parents more. But I guess, I was young and I was also the dumbest person alive."

"Because you liked to go out and have sex?"

"Sort of. I mean, I was basically a hooker without calling myself that. I'd do anything if some of those rich managers and businessmen paid me the right amount of cash or bought me lots of nice stuff. Like, I was drunk all the time and was on drugs and what not. And see, one thing lead to another and I got knocked up when I was 15, had the child at 16, and my parents told me to give it away. So I gave it up for adoption." I finished my monologue. I really wasn't proud of any of it. And I regretted every single decision I had made ever since.

"Shit, I didn't expect a story like that. What happened to the child?" Mordecai asked. I just shrugged.

"I don't know. It was a beautiful little girl and I gave her away, and that's the last I've seen of her. She must be 13 by now. If she's still alive."

"You wish you kept her?"

"I have no idea. I do wish I had kept her, but then again it was probably better that way. I mean, I was 16 and I was still out partying constantly and I had no job or anything to provide for her. And her father of course didn't want anything to do with her, he was some rich guy with a family back on his home planet. All that would have been terrible circumstances to raise a child in. I mean, now she's been adopted by some rich family and is probably doing well. It's probably better that way." I said with a sigh. I was kind of glad that I had gotten it off my chest.

Back on Aquator, a lot of people knew, but I hadn't told anyone here. On the other hand I was terribly scared what Mordecai would think of me. I sometimes still thought of myself as a terrible person, some sort of monster, for giving away my own daughter and not knowing anything about her. It took me a long time to fight off those thoughts, but I just knew if I was to find out anything about her, it would probably eat away at me until the day I'd die. I couldn't deal with guilt.

"Man, I'm sorry. That's all pretty fucked up."

"You think I'm a bad person?"

"No. I mean, I don't know what I would've done. Shit, you've been handling your life much better than I have, it seems." he said.

"Are you joking? I haven't handled my life at all. I'd argue you were off much, much worse than me. And here you are, a total badass, having opened the legendary Vault and all. I've literally achieved nothing in my life."

"Seriously? You seem to have your shit together. You have a house, you can take care of yourself out here."

"Sure, that's why I'm here without a plan on how to get away. It's pure luck I haven't been killed yet. I mean, I've always had a knack for repairing stuff and building bombs and all that, but I had never held a gun in my life before I came here. Well, not for the purpose of going hunting and defending myself." I told him. I shuddered a little when I thought back to the few times some guys dared me to a game of Russian Roulette and I was so high, I actually went for it.

"I've always liked shooting stuff. When I was maybe five or six, I used to carry a slingshot around everywhere. Made it myself. I kept building my own stuff until I could get my hands on a gun. Stole my first pistol back then."

"Of course you'd steal it." I said with a grin.

"Yeah, I didn't have much cash on hand. I mean, I was like... 13. And my dad spent a lot of our meager money on alcohol. And I was an immigrant, a lot of people on Artemis didn't take too well to Truxicans." he answered.

"So how'd you end up here? I mean did you hang around Artemis for ages or what did you do?" I asked. Funnily enough, I hadn't ever asked Mordecai about his past or where he grew up. I had always just assumed he was from Truxico, since he had the accent and all that.

"I won a few shooting contests, got in some trouble, travelled around, you know? I have a bounty on my head on Artemis, but that's a story for a different day. I've just always been looking for something. Not sure what exactly. But just... something, you know?" he replied. I nodded.

"Yeah, I do. I mean, I sort of left Aquator for the same reason, I just never had the cash to go anywhere else but Pandora. But who knows, maybe someday I'll finally get my shit together. Although for now, Pandora really doesn't seem too bad." I answered. He smiled at me a little.

"So, you wanna keep talking about our sob stories or you want another drink?"


	18. Chapter 17 or Entering The Underdome

_song: The Score - Legend_

"Trust me, if you like arena fights and competitions, you're gonna love this. Also, Moxxi is really, really hot. Like, once you hear her talk, that's it. I love blowing my cash at the Underdome and at Moxxi's bar." I told Mordecai, as we approached the arena to see the fights.

"I dunno. I guess I'll have to see. I mean, I enjoy taking part in them more than watching them." Mordecai answered.

"Well, you can take part in them. Once you're in one piece again and all."

"What do you get when you win?" he asked. I gave him a smug smile.

"A bunch of loot and cash. Some say, you can win Moxxi herself. I mean, she is looking for a fourth husband, so I suppose if you impress her enough..."

"Pfft, I'll take the cash, thanks. I don't know if I wanna put up with someone that had three husbands already. And I mean... she does have a reputation." he replied and shrugged. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Just wait until you see her, might change your mind. Also, I had quite the reputation back home and you're putting up with me."

"I'm _just about_ putting up with you." he said and jokingly boxed my upper arm. I gasped dramatically.

"You little fucker..." I mumbled under my breath and jumped at him, throwing him off his feet (which only worked because he wasn't expecting it).

"Woah, man. I feel so betrayed. You're not getting any rakk ale today." Mordecai said as he wrestled himself out from under me.

"Excuse me? As far as I remember, you owe me, because I let you hang out at my place so much. And you drank most of my rakk ale."

"We both drank most of your rakk ale and come on... you wanted me to be there." he said with a smug grin.

"Oh, fuck you." I answered, laughing and getting up from the ground.

"What? Can't deal with me being right?"

"Fine, fine, fine. We're both getting rakk ale and we both like each other and are happy and shit. Deal?"

"Deal."

We had finally arrived at the arena. It was ridiculously big and had a ridiculous amount of flashing bright lights on it. Moxxi probably made an absolute fortune with this, although if you considered that she sold the tickets through Marcus, then he probably made an even bigger fortune.

We made our way to some of the seats that were far up above the arena. Moxxi had organized her Underdome incredibly well, with shields installed, so none of her audience would get hurt. At least not by any bullets coming from the arena - and there were a lot of bullets flying.

"Hey, this place looks a bit like Old Haven." Mordecai said as we sat down.

"I've actually never been to Old Haven. Didn't wanna put up with the Lance." I replied.

"For real? I mean, the Lance is a bit of a bother, but they ain't too bad to fight..."

"Nah thanks. I prefer bandits or skags."

"But the Lance is hoarding some nice food and all. I mean, it's kinda worth it to go and fight them."

"... do they have coffee? Because, you know, after 10 years, I'm kinda running low on it and I hate stretching my coffee." I said. I mean, it was true. My supplies were running really, really low and I knew that by stretching those supplies the quality of my coffee was getting pretty bad. But since there wasn't much competition, I still had the best coffee in the Middle of Nowhere.

"They have those espresso machines..."

"Oh, stop! Next time you're in Old Haven, can you bring me back some coffee supplies?"

"Or you could go yourself..."

"We go together?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Great. So, anyways, this place is called Hell-Burbia. There's loads of waves of bandits and psychos and badasses and whatnot. They have one wave each round with bosses, too." I explained.

"Wait, there are more arenas than this one?" Mordecai asked, sounding surprised. I sometimes forgot that he was fairly new to Pandora.

"Yeah, there are lots. I don't think anyone has ever beaten the Underdome. It's insane. Even if you're really good, you normally just tire out way too easily before you finish one arena." I said. As I finished my sentence I could hear the crowd around me roaring and applauding. I nudged Mordecai and pointed toward the center of the arena where Moxxi was standing with her megaphone.

"That's her. I don't know what it is about her, but she just... she just has it, you know?" I said. Mordecai shrugged.

"I dunno, I'm not feeling it." he replied.

"Yet." I added and focused on what Moxxi was saying.

"Today's match will be in... Hell-Burbia. Let me hear you roar. ROAR FOR ME, PANDORA!" she screamed. Seems like we had missed the introduction of whoever was fighting. Ah, well. They probably wouldn't last too long. I glanced over to Mordecai, who just sat there open-mouthed, his eyes fixated on Moxxi.

"Was I right or was I right?" I asked him quietly. He turned his head to me and seemed genuinely flustered.

"I... uhm... I guess you were. I mean, I really didn't think that... I know what you mean, I think." he stammered.

"Told ya." I replied with a self-satisfied smile on my face. This was gonna be good, especially going to the Red Light Bar afterwards. Moxxi had great drinks, probably because she knew a lot of people she could get direct supplies from. Plus, there were always some interesting people around.

"So... uh... you said, whoever wins the competition, wins her?" Mordecai asked quietly. I nodded.

"How do you join?"

I just looked at him in disbelief. He wasn't serious, was he? The Underdome was absolutely insane. I had barely seen anyone beat the first arena alone. And while Moxxi was really hot and charismatic, she also had her reputation and a lot of that was indeed true.

"Are you kidding me? Because it's not really that funny." I asked. I felt a little pang in my chest. Oh God. Was I getting jealous?

"No. I don't think I am kidding." he answered. And he looked completely serious, not even a devious little smile or a smug grin. I suddenly realized it mightn't have been a great idea to bring him to the Underdome after all.

"Mordecai, are you even watching? The rounds are insane. No one has ever won this thing. Moxxi might look hot and cute and all, but she is one bloodthirsty lady. If she wants you dead, you'll be dead." I said. A grin spread over his face as I said that. I knew it - he was insane.

"Bullshit. I never die."

"Oh my God..." I mumbled and buried my face in my hands. I knew that Moxxi would have somewhat of an effect on him, but I didn't think it would be that much of an effect. And not such a quick effect.

"Are you okay?" he asked, slowly poking my shoulder. I raised my head and looked him dead in the eye.

"You really wanna do this?"

"Yeah."

I looked at him for a long time. I mean, I was the one trying to play it cool here. We agreed on having no strings attached and just being friends, but I could feel myself getting jealous. I was pretty certain that he wouldn't have much of a chance in the Underdome, but... what if he did? What if Moxxi would actually go for him? Fuck. This was a fucked up situation and I knew it. And it was my own damn fault. But I had agreed to not catching feelings, so I had no choice, did I?

"You promise you'll be careful? And won't do it as long as you're not completely healed?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure." he replied. I sighed.

"Fine. We're going to Moxxi's bar afterwards, we can talk to her there, if you really wanna do this. But now you better watch and see what you have to expect. I mean, it might actually change your mind." I said.

"Okay. But I don't think it'll change my mind." he answered with a big smile. I sighed again. Wasn't I a good friend? I really hated myself sometimes, simply for being the way I was. For being such a dumbass.


	19. Chapter 18 or Some New Work

_song: Shakira - Objection (Tango)_

"Honestly, Mordecai, I get the feeling Pandora's finally gotten to you. You've become insane. Absolutely insane." I said.

"Whatever you say, chica. I'm gonna do this." Mordecai answered. I sighed and followed him inside Moxxi's Red Light bar. The place was as full as it usually was after her arena fights and of course Marcus and Scooter were there as well. When Moxxi said she was civil with Marcus, she meant they were still best buddies - as long as they both made a profit from it.

Moxxi's electro music was blaring from the speakers loud enough, so you could still hear it over people talking. The slot machines were occupied by some drunk patrons that probably were going to spend their last penny on them. And behind the bar was Moxxi herself, smiling at her customers, giving out drinks and nodding towards her infamous tip jar.

"There she is, lover boy." I said to Mordecai, nodding in Moxxi's general direction. He turned towards the bar and looked at her. I had never seen him so completely fascinated by something or someone. He was completely smitten and it would have been one of the cutest things ever, if there wasn't this nagging gut feeling I had. But I shoved it aside and blamed it on me having caught feelings.

It was the most logical explanation for my weird gut feeling. I mean, it was my fault for having caught feelings. We had said that there would be no strings attached. If I couldn't deal with it - well, that was tough for me. Mordecai was a good guy, despite his sarcastic asshole facade, and he deserved to be happy. Then again, we were talking about Moxxi here. I wasn't sure if he would really be happy, getting with Moxxi. Maybe for a night or two, but long term? I don't know.

"So, uh... Do we just go and talk to her?" Mordecai asked after a while.

"I guess. I mean, how about you go and order a drink? And make sure to tip her well, she loves tips. I think she'll notice you more, if you tip." I answered. Mordecai nodded, as we walked up to the bar.

"Oh yeah, and remember: This is Moxxi. She likes murder, cash and sex, roughly in that order. So you better treat her like that, too." I added.

"Okay. Got it."

We both walked up to the bar and sat down on the bar stools. Moxxi was busy washing up some glasses and had her back turned to us. I heard Mordecai mumble something under his breath.

"Hi Moxxi." I said, hoping she would remember me doing one or two odd jobs for her some time back. It would make the whole conversation much easier for everyone involved, especially since Mordecai looked so nervous. (Which was funny, because I had never seen that man nervous.)

Moxxi turned around, her makeup on point and a dazzling smile on her lips. I had to admit that I did admire her. She was probably out there, living her best life, looking like a 20-year old. All of that on Pandora and after having four kids. Those were the ones I knew of, at least.

"Oh, hi sugar. Haven't seen you here in a long time. Did you come to see the show or are you looking for work?" she said in her hypnotizing voice. So she did remember me, that was good.

"I came to see the fight, but if you have work for me, I'm listening." I answered. She smiled at me and glanced over at Mordecai.

"I'll have a chat with you later about that. Can I get you a drink? And what about your... friend?" she asked.

"We'll have rakk ale, please." I replied, glancing over at Mordecai who seemed to be retreating into his loner self.

"Coming right up, sugar." Moxxi said with a wink. I nudged Mordecai.

"Be cool, man. Talk to her." I whispered. He looked at me, a very uncertain look in his eyes.

"I dunno what to say. I can't do this."

"Just... just be yourself and play it cool." I replied and sat back up just as Moxxi turned around and came back with two bottles of rakk ale. She looked at Mordecai as she put down the drinks.

"So who are you, sugar? Haven't seen you around here before."

"Well, I haven't been here before. Name's Mordecai." he answered. I had to suppress a laugh. There was nothing really funny about this, but it was just really strange to see the man flirting. Flirting with Mad Moxxi at that. Especially because for some reason, at that moment, I couldn't stop thinking about how long it took him to figure out how to open my bra. Everything taken together, it was just the most surreal scenario and I had a hard time not bursting out laughing.

"So this was the first time you've been to the arena? Did you enjoy yourself?" Moxxi asked with a wink. I could see that Mordecai was getting a little nervous. I took a big sip from my rakk ale and watched the whole scene unfold.

"I did, but I'd much rather take part myself."

"I see. Are you looking to sign up? I'd love to see you fight in my arena, sugar." Moxxi answered. She laughed her typical flirtatious laugh and I realised I would have to have a talk with Lilith. I didn't know her too well, but after they had found the Vault I had been spending some time with her and talking to her was seriously therapeutic, even though the conclusion mostly was that I was a dumbass. Which was true, because right now I was getting super jealous and wanted scratch Moxxi's pretty eyes out. And that wasn't healthy by any stretch of the imagination.

"Well, how do I sign up then?" Mordecai asked. Oh dear God. He was really going to do this. I took a big sip from my bottle. I felt I would probably need it to be able to sit through Mordecai sweet-talking Moxxi.

"You can just talk to me, sweetie." Moxxi cooed.

"Well, when is your next fight?" he asked. Okay. This was it.

"Woah, woah, woah, let me object right there." I interrupted. Both of them looked at me. This would be weird, but to hell with it.

"Oh, are you two an... _item_?" Moxxi asked, a slight smile on her face.

"No, we're not. Not at all." I answered, taking a deep breath. Moxxi asking me that just made me furious.

"Then why the objection?" Mordecai questioned.

"Okay, Moxxi. This man has just opened the Vault a few weeks ago and was half-dead after. We had Zed patch him back together, but he's still not healed properly, so schedule him for a fight in like... a months' time. Then he can do whatever the hell he wants. I'm just gonna make sure I didn't share half my booze with this boy for nothing." I said. Really smooth, Nova.

"You are one of the Vault Hunters?" Moxxi asked him and I swear I could see dollar signs in her eyes.

"Yeah, I am." Mordecai replied nonchalantly, shrugging and taking a sip of his drink. I had probably done him a favour mentioning this.

"I'm sure I can arrange for you to join in about a month's time, sugar. Let me just get some paperwork and you can have a read through that, while I talk to Nova here about some work." Moxxi said and disappeared through a door behind the bar. I took another big sip of my rakk ale.

"You can thank me later, Mordy." I said, sounding more grumpy than I intended to sound. I hoped he wouldn't catch on.

"For giving me some time with this?" he asked.

"And for letting it slip that you opened the Vault. Your chances with Moxxi are way higher if she thinks you're loaded." I replied.

"Well, thanks. And for the record, I _am_ loaded."

"No one's saying you're not. I just hope you'll be happy with this whole thing. The arena is tough, so don't die on me, okay?" I said with a sigh.

"Wait a second, are you jealous?"

"No, why would I be?" I replied. Way too quickly to be inconspicuous. Also, lie of the century. But again, dealing with that was my problem. I had agreed to the no strings attached, so here I was.

"I don't know. Just seemed like it. But if not, then never mind." he answered. Thank God he was so oblivious.

"As long as we can still hang out to go hunting and all. Because I'd seriously miss that." I replied, knowing full well that this would just make it so much harder for me to deal with Mordecai sleeping with Moxxi.

"Sure thing. We're buddies, man. Plus, I think Bloodwing would miss you." he said, giving me a big smile. For some reason that made me feel a little better. I mean, wasn't my fear of ruining this not the reason I didn't sleep with him in the first place? And lo and behold, everything seemed fine. I just needed to get my own damn feeling under control or I'd be fucked.

"Alright, sugar, here, have a read through that. It's all the boring legal stuff." Moxxi said, coming through her door again and holding a piece of paper in Mordecai's face. He took it and she gestured me to follow her. And so I did, like a lamb to the slaughter.


	20. Chapter 19 or I Am A Dumbass

_song: The Last Internationale - Baby It's You_

"I just... I've been used to living my best life all this time and I forgot how to do it since I arrived on Pandora. I have no idea when and how this happened and why I helped them get so far in the first place." I said, fumbling with some wiring. Moxxi had asked me if I could have some explosives ready for her and Moxxi always paid good cash (and some nice guns), so I didn't even ask what she needed it for. But since bomb making could get a little lonely, I had echoed Lilith to come over, so we could have a little traditional chat among girls. While making bombs. As one does.

"Okay, so let me get this straight. You have this weird dilemma with Mordy, where you both agreed to have a fling without any feelings involved and you wake up and realize you did get emotionally involved, but you just chill out about it and do nothing, which is cool and understandable. But then you commit emotional suicide by setting him up with Mad Moxxi of all people?" Lilith summarized.

"Yup."

"And now you're building bombs for her?"

"Exactly."

"Okay, but how the fuck did this happen?"

"I don't even know." I answered and sighed.

"Well, I know how it happened. It happened 'cause you were being a dumbass again." Lilith answered.

"I know, I know. But what do I do now? I seriously can't go and tell Mordecai I actually did catch feelings and what not. I mean, he's out there winning round after round to get laid by Moxxi. He seems happy about it and she's constantly purring in his ear. Who am I to go and ruin stuff for him?" I said, throwing a small pipe bomb into a cardboard box in frustration. Until I realized what I had just done. Lilith and I froze and watched the box for a good while, but thankfully nothing exploded.

"Wow, okay, I get you, but please don't throw explosives around, just 'cause you're not getting any." Lilith said.

"Yeah, I know. Sorry."

"So, do you think this thing with Moxxi will last? Or like, will she even seriously go out with him?" Lilith asked.

"I have no idea. She might go out with him, if he actually wins the whole thing. For now I think she's more amused by his efforts than seriously impressed. But knowing Mordecai, I'd say he'd be stubborn enough to try until they are a thing."

"Okay, but will it last?"

"I doubt it. From what I know of Moxxi, she gets tired of her husbands really fast. And if there is someone more promising than Mordy, she'll leave him in the blink of an eye. Then again, that's just from things I've heard. No clue if that is actually true." I replied. Even if Moxxi did that, I could understand why. She grew up on Pandora and was born into an awful clan. That would make life pretty difficult, unless you were ruthless and calculating enough.

"Well, if you can wait for this thing to blow over, I'd say just wait it out and make your move when they break up or something." Lilith suggested.

"Yeah, I suppose. I'm just afraid they might actually end up working out just fine. Or she'll hurt Mordecai and he won't be the same anymore. I don't know. But it's probably the only thing I can really do." I replied and started working on another small pipe bomb. This was so frustrating.

"Yeah. I mean, I know Mordecai. I don't know Moxxi, but from what you told me, she seems like the kind of person Mordy couldn't stand for long. Don't worry." Lilith said, sipping her coffee. I nodded.

"I suppose so. This is going to end in a big mess, I can feel it. Also, I don't even know if he likes me as more than... you know... a friend. I mean, he seems to be moving on just fine and all."

"Oh, come on. Mordecai likes you a lot. He wouldn't hang out with you as much as he does, if he didn't like you. But now you'll just have to wait. And I mean, that's kinda your own fault."

"I suppose." I answered and sighed. This bomb making was getting quite tedious over time. I enjoyed wiring up detonators and building nasty explosives, but I needed to take a break every now and then.

"So, to change the topic, how are things going with you and Roland? Did you get a move on him already?" I asked.

"I don't know. I've been trying and all, but... I'm not great at talking to guys. Also, Roland isn't great at reading emotions." she answered.

"So how come you made out with him one time?"

"How do you know about that?"

"You told me, I think. Or Mordecai did, I don't remember."

"Sometimes I feel like the three of us are some sort of big girl support group, it's ridiculous. But whatever. That kiss was totally spontaneous and it made things really awkward for quite a while." Lilith started explaining.

"How so?"

"Well, see, we all met because we got on the same bus and because Marcus told us all to go and find a Vault. So we did. So since I was basically the second person on the bus and Roland was the first one there, I decided to be cool and edgy and weird and made out with him there and then. Which was really cringy in hindsight, but well, it happened. I was never good with talking to boys and being cute and stuff." she said, cringing again as she was speaking.

"Wow. That was indeed weird, why would you do that?"

"I dunno. I mean, Roland is really hot and I felt good about myself that day and hey, I didn't know I'd hang around him for a good while after that." she answered. I grinned at her triumphantly.

"I know why you'd do that..." 

"Oh. My. God. Don't say it."

"Because you're a dumbass, that's why."

"I hate you."

"Oh, come on, we all know you love me and would never leave me." I answered, leaning back in my chair. Lilith started laughing.

"And I always thought I was a weirdo." she replied.

"Hey, do you maybe wanna get some fresh air out on the roof or something? I could really use a break here." I said. Lilith shrugged.

"Sure. I wouldn't mind not being in a room with a shit-ton of explosives."

"Then follow me, young lady." I answered and walked through a door into my bedroom. I grabbed the small handgun I had thrown on my bed earlier on and put it in the holster on my belt.

"You got your gun and all?" I asked Lilith. She nodded quickly, so I started climbing up the ladder to the hatch leading onto the roof. Once I had opened the hatch I heard Lilith following me up the ladder. I hoisted myself onto the roof and climbed out of the hatch completely.

"Wow, I didn't realize how good it feels to get some fresh air." Lilith said as she stuck her head out of the hatch.

"Told you. There seems to be something going on over there." I said, pointing towards a hill far away. It looked like a bunch of people were tracking somewhere. Some cars seemed to be involved and quite a good bit of machinery.

"What is it?" Lilith asked and looked through the scope of her SMG.

"Looks like some people just arrived on Pandora. Is Atlas coming back for real now? Or Dahl? Can you see who it is?"

"I think they are... Hyperion." she answered and put down her gun. Hyperion. They seemed to be very interested in Pandora lately. It looked like they were about to try and settle here permanently, possibly to mine or something. I didn't know much about them, only that Claptrap units were Hyperion.

"What do you think they're after?" I asked.

"No clue, but I'd say the few Atlas people left here won't be happy about it. If they even last very long. I've heard one of their assassins has gone completely rogue and slaughtered a whole lot of them." Lilith said.

"Wow, shit. So you reckon Hyperion might be the next corporation that'll fuck up Pandora?" I mused.

"Maybe. I really don't know much about them. They have some really nice digistruct technology, it seems. We'll see, I guess."

"As long as they leave the rest of us alone, I don't really care anyways." I agreed. Boy, was I in for a surprise.


	21. Chapter 20 or Getting Rubi

_song: Alborosie - Kingston Town_

"I still can't believe that you won the Underdome and Moxxi tried to get out of the deal by offering you a shit ton of loot." I said shaking my head, as I was reloading my rifle. It had been a good while since I had that talk with Lilith and also since I had last seen Mordecai outside of the Underdome.

"Well, she can be really stubborn, I suppose." Mordecai answered. I raised an eyebrow. That didn't sound much like the Mordecai I knew. At this stage I was almost certain that he was the most whipped person in the universe. And that was in no way healthy in a relationship.

"So what's it like?" I asked.

"What's what like?"

"Dating Moxxi."

"Uh... I'm not sure. I mean, I guess 'intense' would be the right word, but then again it's more like doing jobs for her and getting paid with sex. But I'm not complaining." he said with a quiet sigh.

"To be fair, you kinda are complaining."

Mordecai sighed again and fired a shot at one of the skags. I wasn't sure how to feel. I mean, I felt kind of triumphant, because hadn't I called it? But I also felt sorry for Mordecai and I was worried about him.

"Let's just focus on getting this gun for her, okay?" he said. I nodded slowly. It was like we both knew there was something up, but we both didn't want to talk about it, because it meant Mordecai was wrong about this whole relationship and it would be my fault he even got that far. And neither of us wanted to admit that.

"Okay, uh... so how's Bloodwing doing?" I asked, trying my best to be inconspicuous about the topic change. Which was difficult, because in all fairness, Mordecai looked... stressed. And unhappy.

"She changed sex a few weeks back."

"What?"

"She changed se-"

"I heard you, I meant what the fuck? How does a bird change sex?" I asked. That was really confusing. I had never heard of anything like that, but I also didn't know much about birds. Mordecai just shrugged.

"I dunno."

"But... I'm so confused. Is this a thing you made up to pull my leg or something? How do you not know?"

"I just don't. I had Tannis have a look at Blood, and she said that she had just changed sex, so now Bloodwing is a girl. Apparently there are some birds who do that at some point in their life. I mean, I didn't question it, Tannis might be slightly insane, but she still knows what she's doing. Kind of."

"Wow... so wait. What species is Bloodwing?"

"I dunno." Mordecai said, shooting the last skag and getting up so we could continue on our search for Moxxi's lost gun.

"How is poor Bloodwing still alive at this stage, Mordy?"

"Oh, my girl can absolutely look after herself if she needs to. I'm 110% sure of that." he said shouldering his sniper rifle.

"That's cute." I remarked, following him through the arid desert landscape. The sun was slowly setting already and we weren't even close to the bandit camp, where Rubi was supposed to be.

"What is?"

"You calling Bloodwing your girl."

"Oh. Seemed appropriate. I mean, she is my girl." Mordecai said, looking up into the sky at Bloodwing, who gave a small caw. Mordecai smiled and then sighed again. There seemed to be something bothering him.

"What's up, Mordecai? You don't look happy. Like, at all."

"Moxxi doesn't like me spending so much time with her. I don't think she really gets how long Blood and I have been together already." he said, sounding a little sad. Oh boy, this was going to be rich.

"Why doesn't she like it?"

"She thinks I'm not giving her enough attention. Do you think she's right?" he asked and kicked a rock that was in his way.

"I don't know. How much attention do you give her?"

"I spend a lot of time with her. When I'm not busy doing stuff for her. I honestly don't know what else she wants. Thought you might know, you know, being a woman and all." he explained.

"I don't really know what to tell you here, man." I answered. I sort of had an idea where this might be going, but I wasn't sure if this was what Mordecai wanted to hear right now. He seemed frustrated enough.

"Well, what do you think?"

"From what I know of Moxxi... she likes attention. She is used to it. Abnormal amounts of attention. She's had a pretty rough life until she started up her bars and her arenas. And she gets bored really easily. I've got no real advice for you, though, Mordy. Either you live with her nagging and she might break up with you at some stage or you do whatever she wants. But you don't seem to be happy with either of that, are you?"

"I don't know. I really have no idea what is going on. Things seemed to be fine at the start and all, but she's constantly nagging and asking me to get her stuff and wants more attention."

"Look, I guess what I'm saying is that Moxxi is used to getting a lot of attention and she'll always want that much attention from anyone. Whether that's a bad thing or not, I don't know. She also gets bored very easily. I mean, why did you think she has had three husbands?", I explained.

"Yeah, I know. I just... Blood has been with me from the very start and I couldn't just leave her alone. And Moxxi doesn't seem to want to get away from Pandora either, I mean, I don't know what else to do."

"Have you asked her to run away with you?"

"Several times."

"Wow. Uh... Sorry, I guess? Man, that's a real bummer, dude.", I said. Wow. This sounded pretty bad. I actually felt really bad for Mordecai. He seemed to put so much effort into this relationship, but Moxxi... well, she was Moxxi. If I had grown up on Pandora, I probably would be the same. Hell, I _was_ the same before I got here. To think I hurt people like that made me feel really guilty.

"Yeah, it is." Mordecai answered with a sigh.

"Hey, if you wanna run away, I'd be game." I replied with a grin and slapped myself mentally at the same time. Mordecai looked over at me and laughed a little, shaking his head.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." he said and focussed on his surroundings again. I felt a little bad for saying that. I mean, his relationship with Moxxi wasn't really my business anymore.

"Any other news?" I asked him. What a ninja topic change.

"Lemme think. Not too much... well, did you know that Lilith finally got it on with Roland?" he said.

"She actually made a move?"

"Sort of. I kinda made a move for her. Told Roland he should take her out. Like, on a date, not with a gun." Mordecai answered, grinning a little.

"Oh my God. Does Lilith know that you told him?"

"No. I'd be long dead, if she knew. I made Roland promise that he'd never say a word to her 'bout it." he replied, a big grin on his face now.

"Shit, if she ever finds out you're still dead. But... was Roland into Lilith all the time anyways, so? Or did things just kind of happen after you mentioned it to her?" I asked. I was actually really happy for Lilith, I mean considering how she was into Roland right from the start.

"No, he already had a thing for her. I think he told me at some stage, I just never figured he couldn't take a hint. And Lilith dropped many of them." he said.

"Cool. So they're both happy?"

"Definitely. I think they're planning some sort of holiday together, they wanna go to the moon or something like that."

"Wow, that sounds pretty neat. You've ever been to Elpis?"

"No. And I don't think I'd wanna go. At least not for a romantic holiday or some shit like that." he answered.

"Where would you wanna go for a romantic holiday?" I asked. I had no real idea what Elpis looked like and what kind of stuff you could do there, so I was fairly curious. All I knew was that there was apparently a strong Dahl presence.

"No idea. Somewhere with trees or something. Somewhere green, maybe. But then again, the desert ain't too bad, either. As long as it's not a huge dump and as long as it's not blazing hot outside." he said.

"Yeah, that sounds nice. I wonder what Elpis is like, though."

"Well, from what I've heard it's pretty hostile. It's apparently really cold and you need one of those oxygen kits to go outside or you won't be able to breathe. But I guess there'd be some nice landscapes and such. Maybe some cool alien plants. As far as I know there's only one major city there. Granted, not as much of a dump as New Haven, but still bad enough." Mordecai said.

"Sounds alright, I guess. Not very romantic, though. But I guess there's not many other pla-" I replied, when Mordecai suddenly stopped me from walking (and talking). I looked at him, slightly annoyed that he was breaking my flow, but then I realized where we were. Right in front of the bandit camp.

"We're here." he said, a smug grin on his face.


	22. Chapter 21 or A Surprise Visit

_song: Florence + The Machine - Sky Full Of Song_

I was lying on top of my roof, looking up into the stars. It slightly annoyed me that the new Hyperion space station was blocking my view of the moon. It had slowly been built over the last couple of months and it was definitely annoying me. Even the whole Hyperion presence on the planet was starting to be a nuisance. Who did they even think they were to just waltz in here?

Most of the Hyperion employees were acting as if they were better than you and you were the worst kind of scum they had ever seen. They had started mining and setting up some settlements as holiday locations for their workers. I was getting a little worried about their mining, too - from what I knew, the last time someone did mining operations on Pandora, they really fucked up the planet. And the area around my house started to look worse and worse.

But on the bright side, there were lots of supplies again. I could even sort of run my actual business, since there were a bunch of new people who would at times pop in for a coffee and for breakfast - most of them construction workers. At least they weren't too bad when it came to being arrogant. Most of them seemed fairly down-to-earth, but Hyperion really made them work hard. I've heard people talk about how their lunch breaks were cancelled and similar things.

I yawned and sat up. For some reason I felt tired, but if I was to lie down, I wouldn't have been able to fall asleep. For some reason Pandora just didn't feel the same anymore. There were more people coming to Pandora again, there seemed to be more of a buzz to it, and I wasn't sure whether I liked it or not. Pandora was supposed to be a desert wasteland, a shithole beyond compare - if Hyperion turned it into a high tech settlement, it just wouldn't be the same.

I grabbed the bottle of rakk ale I had standing beside me and knocked it back, but there were only a few drops left at this stage. With a sigh I put the bottle down beside me again and stretched. I needed to get a new one, but I was too lazy to go downstairs and come back with a new bottle.

I also hadn't seen Mordecai in a long time, probably because Moxxi kept him busy. And it really bummed me out, so I drowned my sorrows in rakk ale most nights. More nights than I personally liked, but hell. There wasn't really anyone left to care about what became of me, anyways.

I yawned again, but was rudely interrupted when I heard the bottle shatter next to me. I looked at the glass shards in utter confusion trying to figure out what had happened when I saw a small bullet at the other edge of the roof. Who the fuck was shooting at my empty bottle?

The real question was probably whether they wanted to shoot me or not. If they did want to shoot me they were a terrible shot. If they meant to shoot the bottle... well, judging from how far I could see, they must be an amazing shot... and there was only one person that came to mind...

"MORDECAI! Get the fuck out of wherever you're hiding."

I heard some quiet snickering from the hillside just beside my house. I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help the grin forming on my face. I had really missed Mordecai and it was just such a relief to hear his laugh again. God, I would have been happy if he put a bullet in my brain, as long as it was him. He stepped out from behind some rock formation, laughing his ass off.

"What the fuck, man, what if my bottle was full?" I asked as he climbed down and walked over to the ladder on the side of my house.

"I saw you finishing that bottle, come on. Nice to see you, too, by the way." he answered with a smug grin on his face.

"What kind of greeting do you expect when you shoot at me?" I replied, as I watched him climb up the ladder to the roof. He didn't answer, but once he reached the roof, he held out his arms. I wasn't sure how to react to that. Mordy wasn't really the hugging type, from what I knew of him.

"Come on, chica, don't make this weird." he said.

"Fine." I answered and gave him a hug. I was glad about getting a hug, if I was honest. I had missed Mordecai a lot. I had even missed the typical Mordecai smell of dust, sweat, gunpowder and Bloodwing. He also smelled like a lot of booze today. I thought that his words seemed a little slurred.

"Jeez, man, I guess living above a bar is really convenient for a quick drink, huh?" I said jokingly. Mordecai didn't laugh and just looked at me with a deadpan expression. Uh oh. Something was wrong.

"Oh dear, what's up?" I asked.

"Yeah, I... I don't live there anymore." Mordecai answered.

"Why?" I replied, absolutely dumbfounded.

"Cause... well... Moxxi... I... we're not a thing anymore. I guess."

Wow. I just looked at him for a while, not saying anything. I mean, I knew this day would probably come at some stage, but I didn't really expect it. I was kind of shocked and kind of relieved and I felt kind of bad for Mordecai.

"What do you mean, you guess?"

"She left me an echo message that she was running off to Elpis with this guy called Jack and that we're over."

"Ouch." I replied, cringing a little. I never really thought Moxxi was the type to break up over ECHO like that.

"Yeah. I can't believe she'd do that, after... after everything... and she just left me for that absolute asshole up on his stupid space station!" he said with a slight slur.

"Shit. I'm sorry, dude. Is there anything I can do?" I asked, trying to suppress the thought that now I finally had a chance again.

"Can I stay here? Until I find somewhere else... in New Haven or something..." he answered.

"Sure, yeah. Do you want anything to eat or to drink?"

"Some water, if you have any. And... I am kinda hungry." he answered. I nodded quickly and gestured for him to follow me down into the house.

"Sure, yeah, I should have some food left. Shit, how are you feeling, man?" I asked. Stupid question, but I couldn't really think of anything better. I was still kind of shocked that Moxxi actually left Mordecai. For another guy, even. He probably had more money, seeing as he seemed to be working for Hyperion on this fancy new space station. But running off with him, after she shut those plans down when Mordecai had asked her? That was a low blow. Even for Moxxi.

"Terrible." was all Mordecai said.

"You'll have one hell of a headache tomorrow." I replied. Mordecai nodded, his expression telling me he was painfully aware of that. I quickly climbed down my ladder, hoping Mordecai was okay with climbing down and wouldn't hurt himself. I stood back and watched him closely, even though he seemed to be doing fine, until he had made it all the way down the ladder.

"So what exactly happened? Did she give you any reason? And who is this Jack guy?" I asked once we were on our way into the kitchen. I was still confused as to what exactly had happened.

"I don't know. She didn't really give me a reason, but... I guess we had been fighting at times, I just didn't... I didn't think it was actually that serious. She wanted more attention and I guess I was just out doing stuff most of the time. I didn't actually think she'd... she'd leave me over that... without having a serious talk at least." he answered. Oh boy. This sounded like a lot of drama.

"Man, I'm sorry. That sucks. How come she already had that Jack fellow, though? Seems a little dodgy, if you ask me." I replied, putting down a glass of water and some left-overs on the table in front of Mordecai and sitting down opposite him.

"It is. I guess, I'll never really know what happened there. He's apparently some big name up on that ridiculous space station. Throwing around lots of cash. I suspect he's all talk, though. Heard some rumours of him talking shit about how he opened the Vault and defeated the monster and brought Eridium and wealth to Pandora and all that crap. Which is obviously bull, 'cause we opened the Vault. Might work for his Hyperion lackeys, but not down here. Especially since none of us see any of that wealth he's talking about." he explained, while quickly eating and drinking like some starved child. Given Mordecai's general dislike for eating anything at all, this was beyond fascinating for me to watch. I really just wanted to hug him right now.

"Sounds like an asshole. Then again, it doesn't surprise me with this company. Not as bad as Jacobs, but bad enough. Some of the workers have breakfast here at times and the stuff I overhear sounds like the bosses are assholes." I replied.

"Yeah, figured." Mordecai answered.

"So where have you been staying since she ran off?" I asked. I knew for a fact that he had sold his old container to someone.

"Well, I was around Tartarus Station for ages. When I came back, she was gone, the bar was closed down and I couldn't get in anymore. I hung around some other bars and such for a few days, sleeping rough and all, and now I'm here."

"Shit, have you been drinking non-stop?"

"Maybe."

Dear God. He really wasn't taking that breakup well. I mean, I was in no position to judge, drowning my own sorrows in rakk ale, but damn. Mordecai even looked really rough, rougher than usual.

"You got any stuff left in the flat that you need to get?"

"A good few rifles. I guess I'll have to find some way inside one of these days."

"Fuck, yeah. You go and sleep and once you're not hungover anymore, we'll go and get your rifles back. I'm sure I can find a few ways in."


	23. Chapter 22 or Shit Is Going Down Fast

_song: The Cave Singers - Dancing On Our Graves_

"I don't trust them Hyperion guys no more." Scooter stated matter-of-factly all of a sudden. I had come over to New Haven to help him with some repairs and to check up on Mordecai. Funnily enough, Mordecai and I hadn't been very close after Moxxi broke up with him.

At first, we were, but after a while he still hadn't given up drinking all day everyday. I mean, while the whole break-up was fresh, I didn't think too much of it - him drinking all day and barely ever being sober. He needed some time to cope, just how I needed some time to cope with him basically not being around.

But when he didn't stop after a while I got concerned and did the only thing I was good at - running away from the problem. I excused it with me stopping my own bad drinking habits before they got out of hand. But I knew deep down I was scared to tackle Mordecai's drinking problem.

His moods changed massively when he was drinking. Most of the time, he was very tolerable when drunk, even sweet. But sometimes he got into a really foul mood and would start rambling and getting angry. Like, really angry. Shouting and breaking stuff angry. I had to admit it could be pretty scary.

"Why's that?" I asked, trying to focus on Scooter's ramblings. I felt guilty about not being there for Mordecai as much as I should be, but I just simply couldn't deal with him in this constantly drunken state. Especially when he got so angry. At least I was somewhat regularly checking up on him. That's at least what I told myself to calm my unsettled conscience.

"Ya know my sister, Ellie, yeah? Pretty girl, out in the dust an' all. She's been tellin' me 'bout them Hyperions buildin' n' stuff. Says they buildin' some sorta prison." Scooter answered. I paused what I was doing and rolled out from under the runner, looking at Scooter confused.

"A prison?"

"Yeah, like lotsa guards an' lots o' them big robots an' actual prison cells an' all that." Scooter replied, nodding quickly.

"The hell do they need a prison for?" I said, more to myself than to Scooter. Which didn't keep him from answering anyways.

"I dunno, but apparently lots of the bandits had some sorta trouble with Hyperion. Some have apparently disappeared 'n all. Strange stuff. I don't like it one bit."

"That is weird, alright. You think they'll go against the bandit clans? They wouldn't go against any bigger clans, though, would they?" I asked. Why did I care, if a few bandit clans were wiped out? Because I had worked for a good few of them, building bombs, repairing their stuff, selling them things and doing contract kills. If they were screwed, I was already in too deep. They'd probably rat me out to Hyperion and then I'd be just as screwed as them. And so would a good few people on this planet, actually. We all had to deal with bandits to survive.

"I dunno, but I've got a baaaaad feeling 'bout this." Scooter said, as I heard the ECHO device on my arm beep. I cursed quietly under my breath and put my tools aside to check what it was.

 _"Nova? You around New Haven?"_ I heard a slurred and slightly distorted voice say over the ECHOnet. Mordecai. I sighed. I missed him, I really did. This whole drinking situation was heartbreaking for me.

"Yeah, I'm helping out Scooter with some repairs. Why are you asking?" I replied. Scooter gave me a curious look.

"Saw your car around and I thought you might wanna pop over. We raided some bandits that had raided a supply ship earlier, so if you wanna grab some stuff, come on over. Bloodwing's missing you, too." he said. Damn. This was actually too good an offer to decline. I always needed more supplies and since Hyperion had fairly regular supply ships to the surface, life had become much more comfortable on Pandora. And I also missed Bloodwing.

"Sure thing. Are Roland and Lilith back from their holiday by now? They over at your's, too?" I asked.

"Yup. And boy, do they have some stuff to tell you, so you really should come over, if you don't wanna miss out. See you later." he answered and finished the call. I sighed again. Of course something terrible had gone down while Lilith and Roland were on their holidays. It's like they never were able to get a break from anything.

"Ooh, so there's gonna be some big news? Aw man, I wish I could go! You're gonna go, right?" Scooter said in a really excited voice. I chuckled to myself. Scooter could never resist a good bit of gossip.

"Sure thing. That is if you don't need my help anymore." I answered.

"Yeah, sure, you should go. But only if you promise to tell me everything later on." he replied with a grin on his face.

"Will do, that is, if I'm allowed to say anything. See you later, I suppose." I answered and got up from the floor, stretching a little. I waved at Scooter and started walking out of his workshop and in the direction of the little flat Mordecai had in New Haven. He got that after Moxxi kicked him out, thanks to Helena Pierce feeling sorry for him.

It was in-between Marcus' shop and her office, so I didn't actually have to walk that far. I was always amazed how people in New Haven weren't constantly annoyed with each other. It was so small that you couldn't just hide from people for very long, and literally everyone knew you and your business. Sometimes I could understand why Mordecai had started drinking.

I knew Mordecai always left his door open, so I just stormed upstairs, knocked once or twice and went into the small room he was renting. It was hot in the room and there was a weird stench of alcohol and sweat in it. In one corner there was an impressive collection of bottles, in another corner Mordecai was leisurely lying on his manky old mattress. Roland, Lilith and Brick were sitting around on the floor and the single chair that was in the room. Mordecai really was a minimalist.

"Hi everyone." I said and waved awkwardly.

"Hey girl." Lilith said with a smile.

"Come on in and sit down, chica." Mordecai said and gestured towards a spot next to himself on the bed, as he sat up. I went over to him and let myself fall on the surprisingly soft mattress.

"So. What's the story? Mordy said y'all had news?" I asked.

"Hyperion is evil." Roland blurted out. I looked at them all with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, no shit, but that's not really groundbreaking news. So is there a particular reason you're telling me this?" I replied.

"Yeah. You know, we were on Elpis, right? Well, I don't know if you heard over the ECHOnet, but some shit went down with some rogue Dahl woman trying to basically blow up the moon using the Helios space station." Lilith said.

"Uh... I think, Scooter might have mentioned that..." I answered. I had heard it before, but I really didn't pay much attention to it.

"Yeah, well, guess how they were able to get that much power from the Helios space station? A guy called Jack, who works on the space station, stole the eye of the Destroyer - you know, the huge, terrible Vault monster - and built it into a super weapon on said space station." Lilith explained.

"Huh. That's... bad. Wait, is this the same Jack that stole Moxxi?"

"The very same one, it seems." Mordecai answered in a bitter tone.

"Yeah, anyways, we managed to actually destroy that thing once and for all, but unfortunately we didn't manage to kill Jack and he is out for revenge." she concluded her story.

"That does sound fairly bad, but what exactly does this have to do with me?" I wanted to know.

"He has sworn revenge on all Vault Hunters and all bandits and criminals on Pandora. And if we're honest, everyone on Pandora is a criminal in one way or another. Also, you're pretty much associated to us and everyone knows. If they hunt us down as bandits, you'll probably go down as well, if you're not careful." Roland said matter-of-factly. Fuck. So it was already at that stage. As I expected.

"Shit. Okay, but like... what exactly can we do? Except for hiding or leaving the planet behind? I mean, Hyperion is a huge corporation with lots of money. They're basically a military force. We don't stand a chance, I mean, I've heard they're already building some sort of prison out in the dust." I said.

"They are?" Brick asked, looking up for the first time, since I had walked in.

"Well, Scooter said that he heard it from his sister. She lives there."

"That's bad. It's really important, that you don't tell anyone of our location. Don't even mention that we are in New Haven or anything like that. And be careful what you tell people about yourself as well. We've got to keep quiet about our whereabouts and hope for the best, because I'm definitely not just gonna leave the planet to its fate." Roland answered. I nodded.

"I understand. Fuck. Shit is really going down fast, huh?" I answered. I was soon to find out that I had no actual idea of how fast it was going down.


	24. Chapter 23 or A Glimmer of Hope

_song: Nine Inch Nails - Head Like A Hole_

 _"Ma'am, if you won't vacate these premises, I'm afraid we'll have to take more drastic measures..."_

 _"Excuse me, but what the fuck? I BUILT these premises, like hell am I just gonna leave, because you have to make this place a dump for your mining!" I protested. The Hyperion guy standing at my front door sighed._

 _"We offered to buy the land off you, ma'am..." he said._

 _"Yeah, for like what? 50$ or something stupid like that. This has been my home for a good few_ _years and I'm not leaving." I answered him. I was regretting not having taken a gun with me when I opened the door now, because I could have easily chased him off with that in my hand._

 _"Fine. You didn't want it any other way." he said quietly and started mumbling something into his ECHO device._

 _"What are you doing there?" I asked nervously. I was getting a really bad feeling about this._

 _"That doesn't concern you anymore." he said calmly, as I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my neck. I tried feeling what it was, but I started getting numb as soon as I realized the pain. Shit, had they...?_

 _"What is..." I trailed off, as everything went black. The last thing I remembered was how I fell to the ground._

The sun was shining mercilessly into my cell. It was burning hot here in the dust and there was literally nowhere to hide. Which wasn't too bad, since I had to get up anyways to start my work shift.

I had lost track of how long I had been in this damned Hyperion prison already. It was the same every day, get up early in the morning, work for 12 or 14 hours out in the hot sun, get your meal for the day (which was usually some water and dried bread) and go back to your cell for maybe 4 or 6 hours of sleep.

Friendship Gulag they called this place, but it was still half in construction. Also, there was nothing friendly about this prison, either. There weren't too many people here yet. Besides me, there were a good few bandits and some Atlas employees, as well as some rogue Hyperion employees.

I was really glad they had arrested me when I had just gotten up, which meant they probably didn't get a hold of my ECHO device. I was hoping and praying that Mordecai, Lilith, Roland and Brick were okay. I knew this Jack person was targeting them and he seemed to be absolutely ruthless.

There were some rumours that he took over Hyperion after murdering his old boss and that his mining operations had basically transformed the badlands into some sort of volcanic wasteland - at least the parts he had gotten a hold of yet. Every story that I heard about him was getting worse and worse, so I really hoped my friends wouldn't fall into the hands of that maniac.

I was brutally awoken from my musings when I felt a painful sting on my upper arm. Electric shock. Some of the Hyperion wardens here liked to use that to keep the prisoners in line. They all were assholes, as far as I was concerned, but they did have the upper hand here.

"Stop daydreaming, bandit scum!" the warden shouted at me. They were about to open my cell, so I could go about my daily work. At this stage I felt absolutely weakened from barely eating anything. Shooting them a nasty look was all I felt actually capable of at this stage and with some that could make me miss a ration of food.

I stepped to the back of my cell, holding my hands in front of me. I was basically constantly cuffed - my hands were cuffed together and so were my ankles, giving me just enough freedom to move, so I could work properly. Both cuffs were connected by a chain. It was humiliating, yes, but I could have imagined worse things.

The wardens quickly opened the door of the cell for me, grabbed the chain and yanked me out of my cell with it. I stumbled around a little until we got to the next few cells and after a while had a good few prisoners to go for our daily work. I was glad that I didn't have to work in the mines - there were apparently people dying almost every day. I was working in the slag dump.

It wasn't great, it was apparently fairly toxic, but the work wasn't as immediately dangerous as the mines. I nodded at one of the psychos beside me. Poor bastards. I really started feeling sorry for them, once I had spent some time in prison with them. They were normal people that had just gone insane trying to survive out here. After a while you could only feel sorry for them.

As we were all crawling onto a truck that would bring us to the working site, I wondered if I'd ever get out of this place. As far as I knew, none of my friends had any idea where I was. I had no chance to tell them, no one else knew. I was basically just gone and I hoped it wouldn't be forever.

I missed Lilith and I really missed Mordecai. I would have given anything to be a free woman again and see Mordecai, angry alcoholic or not. Hell, I even missed Roland and Brick. I was really worried about them, literally anyone could go and betray them to Hyperion, if they wanted to.

By the time we got to work the sun was hot and blazing over our heads. I was glad I still had a scarf that I could wrap around my head and my mouth, so I wouldn't be too bothered by all the sand and dust that was flying around. The work would have probably been even more hellish without that.

I slowly made my way to the machine I was working at, followed by a group of bandits and psychos, as I suddenly heard a familiar sound. I turned around abruptly and looked up in the sky, which got me another shock from one of the wardens and a few chuckles from the prisoners beside me.

"Stop looking around and get to work, dirtbag!" he screamed at me. I sighed and turned around again, continuing on my way. I probably just imagined it. I tended to hear things and see things lately, it was probably from being too tired and exhausted - and dehydrated, come to think of it.

"Everything alright?" one of the bandits mumbled in my general direction, trying to keep his voice low, so none of the wardens would hear anything.

"Guess so. I just heard something, but I probably just imagined it." I whispered back. He nodded.

"Most of us do, girl. Not just the psychos."

I gave him the best smile I could muster, despite feeling dizzy and faint. Prisoners didn't really talk much to each other - we weren't supposed to - but sometimes we managed to have a little conversation without the guards noticing it. I appreciated them, because just that little bit of human contact somehow kept me sane over all this time. It kept me focussed.

I started working away, trying not to think about what I had heard earlier when suddenly I heard it again. I glanced over at the wardens. They seemed to be busy enough, so I slowly turned around again. I got a look at the bandit that was talking to me first and saw him shaking his head at me.

"Thought I heard something again." I whispered.

"Heard it, too. But the guards are watching." he answered.

"Thanks for warning me."

"What is that noise, girl? Sounds like some sort of rakk, but different." he said, glancing around himself nervously.

"Just... someone I know, I guess."

"Someone that could get us out of here?"

"Maybe."

"Because if not, it's not worth wasting your time and risking getting the guards' attention." he said and continued working. As I was about to start again, I heard it again, loud and clear. This time I didn't bother about the guards and just turned around just as something blocked the sunlight from over me. I looked up and almost couldn't believe my eyes. I didn't care what happened anymore.

"Bloodwing!" I screamed and started running towards her shape circling over the sky. I heard her caw one last time before I was thrown to the ground by an intense electro shock. I kept lying there as the guards started beating me. I didn't care. All I was thinking about was that Bloodwing was here.

At least Mordecai hadn't forgotten me. And now he knew where I was. Maybe I would get out of here. I did have my hope back.


	25. Chapter 24 or An Unexpected Gift

_song: grandson - Stigmata_

I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was when it happened. For about two weeks I kept working as usual, but I kept seeing Bloodwing fly by occasionally. It was like she was watching me and it did keep me thinking at times, but I didn't really expect anything to happen.

So when a huge crowd of bandits suddenly attacked from all sides, it did kind of take me by surprise. Everyone was just doing their normal daily slaving, when all of a sudden there were screams and gunshots and shouting, and our dumping site was basically stormed by bandits.

Which was great on the one hand, because it caused enough confusion to possibly get away unnoticed, but it was also pretty annoying, because I neither had a gun nor the keys to open my cuffs. That was, until I heard the all too familiar cawing of my favourite bird in the whole damn universe. Bloodwing.

The guards were busy trying to fight off the bandits coming in and causing mayhem, so I looked up just in time to see her drop something down to me and disappearing again. I ran towards whatever she had dropped down for me as quick as I could, but one of the guards must have noticed me, as I was quickly shuffling over. He came running at me and tackled me to the ground, beating me and shouting at me.

"Where do you think you're going, huh?" he growled. I tried kicking him and somehow managed to knee him in the balls which incapacitated him for long enough, so I could strangle him with the chain that was connecting my cuffs. I never killed anyone this close and I felt myself panicking a little as he was struggling to get the chain away from his neck, trying to catch some breath.

I just kept the chain tight, while he was making strange gurgling sounds. His face became red and the veins on his forehead were protruding. I just held onto the chain tightly, trying not to think about what I was doing, until he stopped struggling. No idea if he was dead or not and I didn't have time to care.

I got up quickly and ran over to the little gift Bloodwing dropped for me. It was a small dark brown pouch. When I opened it, I found a small handgun, some ammunition and a small key. Was that...? I sat down and tried the key on the cuffs on my ankles... it worked! It was the key for my cuffs. I quickly undid the ones on my hands as well, loaded the gun and put my extra ammunition in my pocket.

When I stood up it looked fairly bad for the bandits that had stormed the camp. A lot of them were down on the ground and so were a lot of my fellow prisoners. I really had to hurry.

"Get out, girl. You've obviously got someone waiting for you." I heard a voice behind me. I turned around. It was my prisoner friend, the guy I had been talking to for a good while after I saw Bloodwing for the first time.

"Yeah, I should go. Here, take this." I said and gave him the key. I had no idea if it would work on other people's cuffs as well, but it was well worth a try. He looked at the key and back at me.

"Thanks, girl. Name's Carson, by the way. Maybe we'll see each other again." he said. I nodded.

"I'd sure hope so." I replied, turning around again and legging it with my new gun in my hand. Once I had gotten a good bit away from the dumping site I slowed down. I could feel how much I was out of shape. I felt as if I was going to break down any second now. I needed to find some sort of water quickly. And food. And I needed sleep. But first I needed to get away.

I kept walking as fast as possible. At this stage I couldn't even see the labour camp anymore, but ahead of me I could see a Catch-A-Ride station. I hoped that it was still functional, even though I doubted I could actually focus well enough to drive a car. But maybe I could find some food or something to drink there. I definitely couldn't stay in this area, not with all the Hyperion people all over the place.

Once I reached the Catch-A-Ride, I raided all the little safes that were there. I even found a half-empty bottle of water, which I downed all at once. I almost cried when I found an old chocolate bar, no matter how disgusting it looked. Unfortunately that was the only food I could find and I still felt very dizzy. I needed to get further away, maybe I could find one of Zed's vending machines somewhere.

I couldn't risk driving in my current state. I had to walk and probably at a good brisk speed, if I wanted to survive. In this moment I wished I had an ECHO device, so I could at least see where I was going on the map and how far I was from everywhere else. I could really only hope I wouldn't get ambushed on the way.

It took me maybe about an hour of walking until I stumbled upon a big bounty board and also some vending machines. Never in my life had I been so happy to see one of Zed's vending machines. I probably wouldn't be able to afford much, but a healing kit or even an insta health vial should be possible. And with the bounty board usually came a map, so I could hopefully see where I needed to go.

I ran (or rather limped) to the vending machines as fast as I could. I would be barely able to afford a single health vial, but I was sure it would be worth it. With a health vial I should be good enough to drive and that would get me to safety way quicker. With shaking hands I reached for the vial and injected it. It took a moment until it kicked in, but I felt so much better in just a few seconds.

I made my way over to the bounty board and was able to find out where I was fairly quickly - I was way too close to the dust and the Gulag than I would have liked. To get anywhere close to New Haven I needed to get into the Badlands first. It seemed to be a really long way off. But with a car I should be able to get there within a day or two. With my constitution at the moment, maybe a few more days than that. But it should be doable. I had a good chance.

I decided to finally get a move on and get myself that car, so I could at least get out of this hub of Hyperion activity. If I could make it to Fyrestone today, that was good. I could see Zed, he could probably help me up on my feet again. And then it shouldn't be too difficult to get to New Haven after that.

I still couldn't believe my luck. A few weeks ago I thought I was going to slowly rot away in this Hyperion prison and now I was a free woman again. Fair enough, I was pretty starved and dehydrated and sleep-deprived still, but at least I had the possibility to get back on my feet again.

I wondered how Carson was doing. I never thought much of the rest of the prisoners, but he seemed to be somewhat decent. And his name sounded kinda familiar, too. But I figured anyone who spent some time in this hell hole would seem decent after a while. I did kind of hope he and maybe a few others managed to escape. In the end we were all just some poor sods trying to get by.

As I looked out through the dry wasteland around me, I felt somewhat sick. All this had been my home for years and yes, it was a total shithole, but now it seemed like it was absolutely ruined because of Hyperion. And they had only just started to mine Eridium around here.

Thinking about how this area would probably get a lot worse was terrible. It made me feel completely powerless, especially thinking back to how many people had probably been displaced while I was gone. I could barely recognize some parts that I was driving through. And all this time I could still only hope that my vault hunter friends were doing okay and that Hyperion hadn't found them yet.

I had no recollection of how long it took me to get to Fyrestone, but it invovled a wild car chase with a bandit patrol. I had passed through a part of the badlands where some pipelines were already being constructed, I was lucky that it was night and there were no workers there at the moment.

I was already falling asleep on the wheel more than I liked, when I finally reached the gate to Fyrestone. The town looked almost exactly like I remembered it and it seemed like Hyperion hadn't spread that far yet. At least that was some good news. I jumped out of the car and dragged myself through the little graveyard until I finally reached Zed's little shelter.

There was some light inside, so I knocked on the door as loud as I could. It wasn't very loud, because I was completely weakened, but then again Zed's place was only small. He should be hearing it. I knocked again, when nothing happened after a while. I heard some rumbling inside.

"Who's there?" Zed's voice came from the other side of the door. I sighed with relief. He was there. Good.

"It's me, Nova. Please let me in, I might be dying." I answered. _Might be dying_ was an understatement. The automatic door opened and I stumbled inside. Zed was there, thankfully, holding onto me and keeping me from falling. I was dizzy and everything was spinning.

"Good God, what happened to you?"


	26. Chapter 25 or Good To See You

_song: grandson - Blood / Water_

I had been in Fyrestone for about a week before I felt good enough to actually continue to New Haven. After I more or less broke down in Zed's place and was in-between being conscious and unconscious, I had basically slept for about two days, while Zed had fixed me up with fluids, food and health-vials.

Now I was ready to go. I had already gone and gotten myself some more weapons - a few grenades, some old rusty sniper rifle and a shotgun. Unfortunately, we couldn't find me a new ECHO device, so I had to use an old broken one. The only thing that didn't work was receiving messages, which wasn't great but for now it would do. I could at least send a message to Mordecai, saying I was on my way back.

I was anxious to get back to New Haven as quickly as possible, which meant I was going to have to overcome my fear of fast travel. I would have much preferred driving there, but the amount of time it would take me made me more nervous than using Fast Travel, so this was what I was going to do.

I had packed up my few belongings and was standing in front of the fast travel station, Zed standing a good bit behind me. I had sent out a message to Mordecai and Lilith that I was about to arrive in New Haven in a few minutes and that I couldn't get any messages, because my ECHO was broken.

"You sure you wanna go back to New Haven? You're still not completely healed, you might do well staying here a little longer, maybe when someone can get you and take care of you." Zed said. I shook my head.

"No, I'm sure. I'll have to go back. Everyone is probably wondering where the hell I am." I answered and put in New Haven as the location I wanted to travel to.

"Alright then. Don't say I didn't warn ya." he said.

"I'll be fine, Zed. See you around." I replied and took a deep breath before I confirmed the fast travel. I felt a little like I was going to black out again, but it didn't last for long. I soon found myself feeling completely normal in the middle of New Haven. Which looked like a fucking battle field.

I had no clue what was going on, but all I heard was screaming, gunshots and explosions. There were huge bots standing around firing at people. I heard a sudden loud sound, but it was too late. I was knocked to the ground and couldn't hear anything for a good while. Once I came back to my senses I looked up and saw someone running at some Hyperion guy with a spoon in his hands.

I knew this was going to end badly, but I just couldn't look away. There were children standing around and crying, the whole place was a mess. The Hyperion guy quickly disarmed the poor man with his spoon. I thought he was just going to shoot him, but instead he pinned him to the ground with a sickening grin on his face and started digging into his eyes with the spoon.

I felt like I was going to throw up. This was bad. I probably should have gotten up and ran away or at least pretended I was dead, but I was just frozen. After what seemed like an eternity, the Hyperion guy got up and started laughing hysterically. The poor man he massacred was shuffling around on the ground not able to see where he was going. His kids were standing right there, crying and helpless.

I managed to pull myself up on my feet again, even though I still felt dizzy. I was probably knocked down by a grenade that exploded nearby, so I was glad I was even still alive. As I got up I saw the Hyperion guy turn around to me. I felt sick to my stomach. He gave me a smug grin and reached for his gun. Thankfully, this was the moment I unfroze. I turned around and just ran for my bare life.

"Aw, stop running, cupcake! I was just getting started!" I heard him call after me. I felt like I was going to throw up any second, but I just kept running. I didn't even know where I was going. All I could think of was that I should have listened to Zed and how stupid I was and what was going on and was everyone else alright.

I ran around a corner and immediately bumped into someone, which almost made me fall to the ground. I stumbled back, panicked that it was someone working for Hyperion. I somehow saw people, but I couldn't think straight, I just couldn't think of who was on my side and who wasn't.

"Watch where you're going, sugar!" I heard the person I bumped into shouting at me as she fired a shot at something above me. I looked up and screamed as I saw a massive loader bot hulking over me, dripping with corrosive acid now. I quickly stumbled back and somehow managed to get my shotgun and load it, despite my hands shivering like crazy. I quickly aimed and just shot at the loader until I had to reload. Only then I looked over at who I ran over earlier.

"Moxxi? What... where..." I stuttered. Apparently I was talking really loudly, because Moxxi gestured for me to be more quiet.

"Not much time to talk, sweetie. Hyperion found us and is about to stomp New Haven into the ground. You should get out as quickly as possible." she said while reloading her gun. I looked around, starting to panic again. It didn't really look like there was any way out of New Haven.

"How do I... and where is... Mordecai..." was all I could manage to say. Somehow things in my brain didn't really connect properly.

"Look, Helena Pierce is getting people out on this side, Mordecai, Lilith, Brick and Roland are getting people out on that other side. Hurry up and get there, you're in no condition to fight Hyperion." Moxxi explained quickly and ran off right after that. That was fairly unhelpful.

I pressed up against the wall of the house as I was reloading my gun, breathing heavily, my shaking hands making the reloading almost impossible. I couldn't remember which direction Moxxi had pointed in, but she was right, I really had to get out of here. I just started running blindly into the battlefield, hoping to get to the right place eventually. I had my guns, at least.

The noise I heard around me sounded clearer now, so I guess my ears were somewhat recovering from that explosion earlier. There were a bunch of shots fired in my direction and I was pretty sure that I got hit by one or two, but I didn't have time to stop and check. All I could feel was pain from basically everywhere and panic rising inside me. I stumbled over corpses left and right, even over some people that were still alive, but had lost all their limbs.

I ran around a corner, leaning against the wall of a house, breathing heavily. I couldn't do it. I was convinced that I wouldn't make it out of New Haven alive. I checked my body for wounds, and indeed, I was hit in the shoulder and in my leg. This was really bad. I was barely able to stand upright.

"Nova? Mierda, is that you? Are you okay?" I heard a voice. I looked up and felt tears welling up in my eyes. It was Mordecai and he was okay. He looked a little beaten up, but not seriously injured.

"Oh God, I'm so glad to see you." I answered through my tears. I was crying like a baby now. I didn't even know why, it was just like everything I had seen the past few minutes hit me at once.

"Come on, follow me. We gotta get you out of here or you'll be dead in no time." he said. I just nodded, not really understanding what was going on. I had difficulty processing what anyone said to me, the words just didn't register in my brain.

"Can you get up and walk?" he asked.

"I... I think so." I said, trying to stand up. I felt wobbly on my feet and I was more staggering than walking, but I could get moving. I walked over to Mordecai, who crawled through a hole in the fence surrounding New Haven. I followed him trying to shut out the pain in my leg and shoulder.

When I had made it through, Mordecai held out his hand to help me up. I took it and was pulled into a tight hug. It was incredibly messy, since I was bleeding and crying and had dirt everywhere, but it instantly made me feel better, even though it made my shoulder hurt more.

"I thought you were a goner when you just didn't get back here after I had sent Bloodwing to get you the keys. And then you sent the message you were coming to New Haven, just when Hyperion attacked us and I thought you were going to die, if you got here and..." he said quietly. I just started crying and shaking even more.

"I mis... I missed you... so much." I stammered. Mordecai slowly let go of me, making sure I was able to stand on my own.

"Let's get out of here. Brick already took a bunch of people out of this place and is going back to get more. I'm taking the next group and then Roland and Lilith are following." he said. I nodded quickly, trying not to fall. He looked at me for a while and then offered his arm to me.

"Come on, let me help you. You can barely walk, chica."


	27. Chapter 26 or Nightmares

_song: Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra - Kiss The Sky_

I woke up with a scream and drenched with sweat. I was breathing heavily and it took me a while to get my orientation back. I was looking at the rock of whatever cave we were camped in. Everything was calm, nothing terrible had happened. I focused on calming down my breath.

"Hey, chica. What's wrong?" I heard Mordecai whisper next to me. He had taken good care of me since we escaped New Haven, helping me treat my wounds, staying with me at night, when I had nightmares, all of that. I really appreciated it. If he hadn't been there, I might have just stopped trying to survive out in the wild.

"Just a bad dream." I answered.

"You wanna go outside for a while, get some fresh air?"

"Yeah... yeah, that sounds good." I answered. When I woke up after a bad dream, Mordecai would often take me for a short walk and it was quite therapeutic. I still hadn't told him everything that happened since I got taken to the Friendship Gulag, but every time we took a walk, I managed to tell him bits and pieces. It was good to get everything out of my system.

"Let's go, then. Grab your gun and put on something warm. It'll be cold outside, now that we're so close to the tundra." he said and slowly got up, getting ready. I climbed out of my sleeping bag and put on my ECHO device, grabbed a gun and wrapped myself in a blanket.

"Sorry about making you stay up with me again." I said, once I was ready to go. Mordecai shook his head.

"Don't worry 'bout it, chica. How's your shoulder?" he asked. I moved my shoulder around a little. I felt a tiny pinch, but it didn't hurt much anymore. It was nothing compared to the excruciating pain of getting the bullet out of my shoulder without any narcotics other than Mordecai's booze.

"It's good. Barely hurts anymore." I replied, smiling.

"That's good. What about your leg?"

"Good as new."

"No other pain?"

I shook my head no. For a while I was quite worried that I had some inner injuries from being hit by a grenade blast, but I was neither in much pain nor was I dead yet. Physically, I was doing quite well, everything considered. But I still had nightmares every now and again.

"Good. You were really lucky with that grenade. You really should have listened to Zed and stayed in Fyrestone a little longer." Mordecai said as we walked through the sea of sleeping bags on the ground of the cave. We had been able to meet up with Lilith's and Roland's group, but Brick and Helena Pierce and her group of survivors were still missing and we hadn't heard from them at all.

"I know, I know. But how was I supposed to know you were in the middle of a battle? I mean, all I knew was that New Haven was a good bit further away from Hyperion than Fyrestone."

I took a deep breath when we were just outside the cave. The air was chilly and clear. It was refreshing after marching through the dust for a good week. Apparently Roland had been able to locate an old Dahl mining ship that was inhabited by some big bandit clan and he wanted to relocate all of the remaining survivors of New Haven there. I didn't know who exactly was still alive, but I was relieved that Scooter and Moxxi seemed to be okay, at least.

"That's true. We were taken by surprise as well. Someone must have betrayed us to Hyperion, I don't have any other explanation for it. We literally had no chance, all we could do was taking as many people as we could and get out." Mordecai said, shaking his head. Losing New Haven and so many people in it was weighing on everyone's mind. Mordecai took it fairly hard, but it seemed like Roland felt the most responsible for all of it. He had gotten very distant, especially since New Haven happened.

"I don't know. I guess we'll find out. I'm still surprised no one realised that I had information on you when they took me to the Gulag. Things would have probably looked way worse for me, if they had found out somehow." I said.

"How did Hyperion happen at all? I mean, how come that all of a sudden they take over most of the planet and make it their goal to basically kill everyone that doesn't agree with their brainwashing? How did it even get this far? I don't understand.", Mordecai replied, kicking a small rock in frustration. He wasn't getting angry as much anymore, when he was drunk, which was a relief to me. I could barely cope with anyone raising their voice anymore.

"I don't know. I remember, I was with Lilith one time, talking about it and... I don't know, we were a little suspicious, but we always just assumed they'd leave us alone or something. It never occurred to us that they actually were going to try and wipe us all out and destroy half the planet, as well."

"You remember the Jack guy? The one that Moxxi left me for?" Mordecai asked all of a sudden.

"Yeah, why?"

"You know Handsome Jack, from all the stupid little Hyperion propaganda posters?"

"No way! Is that the same guy?"

Mordecai nodded. I had seen lots of propaganda posters all over the Gulag, but I had never paid much attention to them, but now that I was thinking of it... oh God. Only now I had made the connection.

"You remember the guy I told you about in New Haven? With the spoon?" I asked, holding onto Mordecai's arm with a horrified expression.

"Wait, you think... Are you sure?"

"I'm not sure, but... he looked a bit like the guy in all the propaganda posters. Shit. I never realized until now."

"You were really lucky that day, chica."

"I dunno. I completely lost it, though. Like, I couldn't even move at first, then after that grenade I was just running around like a headless chicken, panicking constantly. I should have stayed calm. I feel like I was more trouble than anything."

"Bullshit. Look at Roland. He's a trained soldier, and even he has trouble dealing with it. You're just a girl." Mordecai answered.

"But I've been here for 10 years. I've seen terrible things, but I never was... like that. I never was that useless. I mean, the two of us would clear out skag dens and bandit camps without a second thought, but I just completely lost it in New Haven. I just couldn't deal and I still have those stupid nightmares and..."

"Ssh. It's alright. New Haven was a bloody war. We were surprised, there were lots of civilians killed, it was a scary experience. When we were raiding those bandit camps, we knew we had the upper hand. We had better weapons, we had the advantage of surprising them, all that. It's okay to lose your cool like that." he answered, taking my hands in his and looking into my eyes. I felt like I was going to cry again. Some of these days it seemed like that was all I was capable of lately.

"How do you stay so calm?" I asked him. He sighed.

"I don't. I'm drinking. I mean, do you think I didn't try to stop drinking while you were gone? All the time we spent walking through the dust? I tried, but I just got all those terrible nightmares and I couldn't sleep and it was just insane. And I need to keep myself going somehow, there are so many people depending on me, Lilith and Roland. We still don't know where Brick is. Believe it or not, we are all screwed up, since New Haven happened."

"Do you think it will ever get better?" I asked.

"I don't know. At some point, I'm sure it will. But I dunno." he answered. I sighed. That was pretty depressing. But what wasn't depressing on Pandora? At least since Hyperion was here, it was just terrible.

"We should really stop sulking so much, no wonder we're all depressed as hell." Mordecai blurted out and started laughing quietly. This actually made me smile and it didn't take long for me to start laughing as well.

"You feeling a little better?" Mordecai asked with a slight smile on his face.

"Yeah. Thanks for taking a walk with me." I answered.

"No problem, chica. Let's head back, then. You must be tired." he said, putting one arm gently around my shoulders and leading me back into the cave.


	28. Chapter 27 or Taking Sanctuary

_song: grandson - War_

I tied the laces on my combat boots as tight as possible and strapped a holster to my leg. I had my backpack almost completely filled with ammunition, I had grenades at my side, a sniper rifle on my back and a shotgun strapped to my bag, just in case. It had been about a month since New Haven was destroyed and finally we had found a new place for all the survivors.

We had been scouting the place for the past week and a half. It was an old Dahl mining ship called Sanctuary. A fairly big group of bandits, the Bloodshots, had taken the ship for themselves, but now we were about to get them out of there and rebuild it as a new home for the people of New Haven.

I attached my new-found shield to my belt and activated it. I had found it in a skag pile a while back, and it was a really good shield, so I guess I was lucky. With this, I was probably good to go. Mordecai, me and two other guys were supposed to sneak into the city and get up to some good vantage points, so we could support Roland, Lilith, and the rest of the people that were ready to fight.

I walked over to Mordecai, who had been filling a hip flask with Rakk Ale. I was still quite concerned about him drinking before such an important mission, but it was probably even worse if he got the shakes during the mission, so I let him do his thing and hoped he knew what he was doing.

"Hey Mordy." I said as I walked up to him. I started getting a little nervous about this mission, mostly because I had never been part of such an elaborate military-style plan. And also because we were the first to go in and a lot depended on us being quiet and no one seeing us.

"Are you really sure you can do this? I'd rather you back out now, than during the mission when your life depends on it. It's okay if you don't feel up for it, you know?" he replied. The last few days he had been very concerned about me wanting to participate in the attack on Sanctuary.

"I'm sure. I can do this. Don't worry about me." I answered. I sounded more confident than I was. I still had nightmares and I still got some random panic attacks, but they had gotten way less over the past few weeks. I was pretty sure I could do this. I had been fine hunting skags and during a bandit attack back out in the Tundra, so I figured I probably would do fine now as well.

"Okay. If you say so. Remember, chica, if you panic, you're risking your life. You need to be in control of yourself, alright?" he said. I nodded quickly. I knew all that and I had been able to control my panic attacks better the last few days. I was still a little nervous about getting one. Combat was different from hunting.

"Does your ECHO work?" he asked next. I nodded again.

"Checked it this morning, it's working fine."

"Good. Then let's go to Roland, the others are probably already there. Let's get this over with."

I followed him to the entrance of the cave where Roland was sitting with two other guys. He had made the whole plan to take back the city. We were the first one's awake to go in early, but by now everyone else was slowly getting up and getting ready. After a quick briefing with Roland we went on our way.

The mining ship wasn't far away, but we knew for a fact that the bandits didn't have any scouts or anything, so we were fine in the nearby cave. We were all really quiet most of the time, for some reason none of us felt much like talking. We reached Sanctuary quickly and then split up to get vantage points from different directions. I went with Mordecai, which meant we were climbing up some icy rock which gave us a great view into the streets.

"We're in position on a ledge up in the mountain, where are you?", Mordecai echoed the other two guys. I took my sniper rifle from my back and got some extra ammunition ready. Looking through the scope, I could see the Bloodshots going about their daily business. Some of them were just about to prepare some Bullymong meat, others were filtering water.

"We managed to climb into one of the towers at the edge of the city. We're ready." came the answer from Mordecai's ECHO.

"Roland, everything seems calm and we're in position. How about you?" I echoed. Mordecai gave me an encouraging smile.

"Ready when you are." he answered promptly. I looked through the scope of my sniper rifle, when Mordecai carefully nudged me.

"They have a Goliath." he said. I grinned. This was good.

"Roland, they have a Goliath. Will we make him angry?" I echoed again. I didn't even need to see Mordecai's face to know he was grinning at the prospect of having the Goliath tear half the bandits apart, before anyone even got to Sanctuary. That would be a great help to everyone.

"Go ahead. Once we hear you shooting, we'll attack." Roland echoed back. As soon as Mordecai had heard that, he had pulled the trigger. I quickly looked through my scope to see the Goliath start raging and tearing apart the bandits that were around him. I aimed at a bruiser trying to take down the Goliath. I got him with a headshot, just as the bandits got distracted by Roland and Lilith with their frontal attack.

Now it was even more vital to focus on who you were shooting. Chances were that you could hit your own people in the commotion. Also, now was probably a good idea to take out the Goliath who was getting more enraged with the minute. If we didn't take him out soon he'd be unstoppable.

"Goliath?" I asked Mordecai quietly while aiming at him.

"Yup. Once we take him out we should keep bandits off everyone else's back. You feeling okay?" he replied.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I answered and it was true. Until now I was actually perfectly fine. I hoped it would stay that way. I pulled my trigger on the Goliath as fast as I could with Mordecai doing the same. It didn't take too many shots to take him out completely. By now there were a good number of Bloodshots pouring into the streets, however and they just kept coming.

I noticed a psycho behind Lilith that just aimed at her with an improvised axe, but thankfully I quickly managed to take him out. Through my scope I saw a bandit shoot one of our men, but I couldn't take him out fast enough. I froze and felt the panic creeping up in me. This was bad. This was incredibly bad. I tried to calm myself down, but Mordecai had already noticed my breathing getting quicker and my hands shivering.

"Nova. Are you panicking? Mierda, chica, you can't panic now!" he said. I nodded quickly, but I was still frozen.

"I'm good, I'm good." I kept repeating, but I just couldn't seem to calm down. Mordecai cursed quietly, but kept shooting.

"Breathe calmly, chica, okay? It's okay. Close your eyes for a second. You can do this." he said to me. I took a few deep breaths and closed my eyes. I needed to focus, especially now. I needed to function.

"Are you okay?" he asked. My breathing had slowed down and my hands weren't shivering as much. I could still feel panic inside of me, but my body wasn't reacting as severely to it anymore.

"Yes. I think so." I answered.

"Good, good. Now open your eyes and just focus on your target. Just focus on that one thing. Don't think about anything else. Can you do that for me?"

I didn't answer, but I took my sniper rifle back in my hands, steadied myself and aimed at a bandit that was reloading behind a corner. I breathed in and out and pulled the trigger on him. Headshot.

"I got him." I answered. I could hear Mordecai sighing with relief. I started feeling a little guilty at that. Getting a panic attack like that was dangerous in our situation. I couldn't believe I had actually had one.

"Sorry about that. I really didn't think it would happen." I said.

"It's okay, chica. You're back now. Stay focused, okay?" he replied.

"Definitely." I answered as my ECHO was beeping. It was Roland.

"Nova, Mordecai, how's it looking?" he asked. I looked through my scope and scanned the area. There weren't too many bandits left.

"Looking good. There aren't many left, from what I can see. Will we send Bloodwing down and make our way towards you?" I suggested.

"Yes, we'll see you down there." he answered. I looked over at Mordecai who was whispering to Bloodwing with a smile on his lips.

"Let's go, Mordy."


	29. Chapter 28 or Victory and Loss

_song: The Last Internationale - Need Somebody_

It was comparatively early when I stumbled out of the building that Moxxi had claimed for herself. She planned to turn it into a bar and I figured it was a good business concept. There wasn't much else out there to do.

Once we finished taking over the city, we got out the Bloodshots' booze and were all celebrating in there, with the exception of Mordecai. I could see why he didn't want to hang around Moxxi for too long.

Everyone had more or less taken over buildings for themselves, but I had decided to bunk with the rest of the Vault Hunters in their newly appointed head quarters. I wasn't really sure if I would stay in Sanctuary permanently. I often preferred to have my peace and quiet and be left to my own devices. Especially because it made my hustling much easier, if I could just disappear for a few days.

I didn't even know if I would continue with that, though. With Hyperion around I couldn't just work for some bandit clans. All I could do was offer my repair services to Hyperion and I doubted they'd like me to work for them. And I didn't want to work for them in the first place.

The headquarters weren't too far from Moxxi's bar, so I didn't have to walk for a long time to get home. I think they even named their resistance organisation back in the bar, but then again, it was so loud, I could barely hear myself think. Whatever it was, I couldn't remember. Something Crimson, because Roland was going to try and recruit the Crimson Lance soldiers that were left on Pandora. I had just reached the headquarters when I heard someone call down to me.

"All alone out there, chica?"

I looked up with a knowing smile and saw Mordecai sitting on the balcony, his legs dangling from the railing, a beer in his hand and a big, smug grin on his face. I grinned up at him.

"You see anyone else here?" I asked.

"Wanna come up here, so we're both not alone anymore?"

"I might just." I answered him and walked towards the door. I was actually looking forward to just sitting around with Mordecai, doing nothing and getting drunk. It had been a good while since we did that.

I opened the door and made my way through the messy ground floor. Beds and lockers and washing machines and anything imaginable was just lying around in a big pile of rubble. It was one chaotic mess, but at least there were a good few commodities already in the town.

When I had finally made it up the stairs and through the second floor to the balcony, I climbed over the railing to sit beside Mordecai. It was a little scary at first to sit that high up and basically risk falling if I made just one wrong move, but then again we all had been in much riskier situations.

"So why are you sitting up here all alone?" I asked once I had gotten comfortable. Mordecai held his bottle of rakk ale out to me. I took it and sipped on it, not really feeling like drinking much more than I already had.

"Just didn't feel like staying with the whole crowd. Way too loud in there. Why are you back so early?"

"I guess I just needed a bit of a break from all the people. I mean, sure, we defeated the bloodshots, but I don't really feel like celebrating too much. We have no idea what happened to Helena Pierce and her group of survivors and to be fair, that was the biggest group. We still lost a lot of people in New Haven. Brick is missing. I don't know. It doesn't feel like much of a victory." I replied and handed the bottle back to him. He just nodded solemnly, taking a big swig from it.

"Yeah. I've a bad feeling 'bout all this. Don't wanna get in over my head and end up in the Gulag or worse." Mordecai replied.

"There's worse?"

"Yeah, I've heard that there are some so-called 'research facilities', where they experiment on people and animals and any living thing with slag and eridium, apparently. Lots of people are going missing, apparently."

"Shit, really? Or are those just rumours?"

"No, really. Don't you know Tiny Tina? The little girl Roland found out in the wilderness all on her own? Her parents were taken by Hyperion." Mordecai explained. I shook my head. I could barely remember anything from our journey through the dust and the tundra, and Roland had been really busy all the time, so I wasn't surprised I didn't really get too much info.

"Yeah, we've basically taken her in. She's a strange one, but the poor kid's been through a lot."

"Yeah. Damn. That's sad. I can't believe they're all over there celebrating. I couldn't stand it for long." I said.

"I guess some people need it to deal with all... well, all this." he answered. I nodded. Everything seemed pretty surreal. There were a few lights turned on in some of the houses, there was loud music and laughter coming from Moxxi's place and in the distance there were the snowy, icy mountains and the wide open tundra. And somewhere in between all this Mordecai and I.

"You think you can feel at home here?" I asked him. I don't know exactly where that notion came from, but it was probably just something on my mind for a while. I was sure that my house was by now razed to the ground, and this was the one place on Pandora I had felt at home in. I felt like anywhere I was going to settle now just wouldn't be the same and it really bugged me.

"I don't know. I'm not sure if I'd wanna stay here. I prefer some solitude and privacy, you know?" Mordecai answered. I nodded. I could relate to that. For most of my life now I had the whole big city experience and it was wearing me down.

"You got any idea where you wanna go? I mean the Badlands are kinda a bad idea right now, to be fair." I replied.

"I don't know. Everywhere seems like a bad idea at the moment. Maybe I'll go back to the tundra, I kinda liked the place. Maybe the Highlands or somewhere, but I've heard of some Hyperion structures being built there, so I might pass on that."

"If you find a good place, I might join you. With a good distance of course." I replied, a grin on my face. Mordecai chuckled quietly.

"No need for that, chica. You know I like you." he said, looking at me through his goggles, with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, I know we're friends and all..."

"With benefits."

"With bene- wait. The benefits thing is still going? I thought that was a one off thing."

"Well, there is no one who'd have a problem with it, is there? So the offer still stands, I guess." he replied and shrugged.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" I exclaimed jokingly, throwing my hands up in the air dramatically, which almost made me lose my balance, if Mordecai hadn't held onto me. I really was dumb sometimes.

"No reason to jump off a building, chica." he said, still holding me. Damn, this was nice. I enjoyed Mordecai holding me.

"I should better get back inside, so I won't kill myself or something." I replied and climbed back over the railing to get inside.

"I better come with you to take care of you." Mordecai answered with a grin and followed me.

"Well, I'd definitely hope you would." I replied with a wink. I looked around in the dark and murky room. There were a few mattresses lying on the floor, I guess they'd have to do for now. I sat down on one of them and took off my warm jacket, as Mordecai sat down beside me, watching me intently.

"You have no idea how much I've wanted you, Nova." he said quietly, running his hand through the mess that was my hair. I took off his goggles and his red bandana and threw them aside. God, I had missed those eyes.

Mordecai's hand came to rest at the back of my neck and he pulled me closer to him until our lips met. I basically melted in his embrace. I had forgotten how much I had missed this, how much I had longed for this.

"Goddamn, Mordecai, how are you just so damn good?" I asked as I broke away to catch some breath. He just shrugged with a grin on his face, as he slowly took off my top and started kissing my neck.

"You just don't remember how awkward I am when it comes to opening bras." he replied and I could feel him smirk against my skin. I had to laugh as I remembered the trouble he had with that last time we did this, but I was quickly shut up by Mordecai's rough lips pressing against mine.

In the back of my head I was hoping no one else would come back early from their party, but that thought was quickly dismissed, as I focused on the feeling of Mordecai's coarse hands all over my skin. I loved every second of this - the feeling of closeness, the trust. It just felt right.


	30. Chapter 29 or Existential Horrors

_song: Major Lazer - Lean On_

I woke up feeling fairly well-rested. The sun was shining in through the balcony, as I carefully looked around. None of the others were in the room, just Mordecai, who was still sleeping. He had his arm loosely draped around me.

But Roland, Lilith and Brick weren't here, which was kind of comforting. I didn't really want them to see me the morning after a fling with Mordecai, to be fair. I don't really know why it made me uneasy, it just did. I felt like unless we were an actual thing and not just in this whole friends with benefits dynamic, we should be staying quiet about it. The thought of the others knowing made me nervous.

I sat up slowly and stretched, trying not to wake Mordecai. It didn't work. He blinked and yawned, then looked at me. I gave him a sleepy smile, not sure what I was supposed to say. Sure, I had a lot of experience with the morning after a random hookup, but this wasn't the same. This time I actually had caught feelings for Mordecai and despite me thinking I had muted them pretty well thus far, they just all came back with full force last night.

"Morning, guapa." he mumbled, a sly smile on his face. I laughed a little.

"Guapa? Come on, Mordy, I look like shit." I replied, picturing my messy hair and the general destroyed look I had whenever I had been out drinking the night before. That combined with the smell of sweat and alcohol wasn't a great combination, I was pretty sure of that.

"No, you don't. Did you sleep well?" he asked, sitting up next to me. I shrugged.

"Yeah, actually. Surprisingly well, honestly. What about you?"

"Slept like a baby. You see any of the other guys?"

"No idea, I didn't see anyone. They might've just stayed at Moxxi's. Or they're downstairs, I dunno."

"Huh. Fair enough. You hungry?" Mordecai asked, as he was getting up from the mattress and walking towards the balcony. He grabbed one of his untouched bottles of rakk ale and opened it, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. But I guess, it would be fairly normal on Pandora. And lately a breakfast beer seemed to have become the norm for Mordecai, too.

"Yeah, I kinda am. Is there any food here? And anything to drink? Like, water or something?"

"There should be some sort of water supply. I don't know about food, but we might still have some rations of bullymong bacon somewhere. But we'll probably have to go out and hunt some stuff, I doubt there'll be enough food for everyone in this town." Mordecai said. I hadn't even thought about that. We sort of had a whole town now. Like, one full of people. To take care of. How the hell would we go about that?

I mean, yes, Roland would probably have a plan and spearhead this whole thing, but... I felt like now that we had achieved our goal of finding a new home for the people of New Haven, there wasn't really anything left to do. But then again there was so much that needed to be done and it was impossible to find out where to even start. It was an emotional rollercoaster.

"What's gonna happen next?" I blurted out. I was seriously hoping this wasn't a case of existential crisis, but only a case of the morning after low. The session depression. Whatever you want to call it.

"What do you mean?" Mordecai asked, looking a little concerned as he was putting on a shirt.

"We escaped New Haven, we took a new city. What's gonna happen next? I don't know why, but for some reason I just have a terrible, terrible feeling. Nothing's ever gonna be the same, but it feels like there should be some sort of normality. It all just doesn't make any sense and it doesn't really compute, you know? Like, in my head. I can't wrap my head around it all." I tried explaining.

"Shit, chica, it's pretty early for this." Mordecai said, a sleepy look in his eyes.

"I know, I know. It just kind of hit me for no real reason." I answered. Mordecai was binding his bandana, still looking at me.

"You scared?"

"I dunno, man."

"It's okay, you can admit it. Nothing embarrassing about it." he said and sat down next to me. I took a deep breath.

"Yeah. I'm scared. I'm absolutely terrified, because all of a sudden everything has changed and I never even thought I'd still be on this planet at this stage, but at the same time I also don't wanna leave and I didn't even think I'd still be alive at this point. And I feel kind of responsible for all these people now. But it might just be the session depression, who knows." I sputtered, my voice sounding more high-pitched with every word. To me it was terrifying to be on Pandora right now.

"Ssh. Relax, chica. It's all gonna be fine. We're all here for each other. Roland's always got a good plan. We can go and talk to him. Lilith will be there for you. Scooter will be there for you. And I'll be there for you, okay? I promise."

"I know, I know. I'm just panicking a little. No good reason." I said trying to calm my breathing. I really had to get these panic attacks under control. Quickly. No matter what Mordecai was saying, I found them embarrassing.

"It's alright, chica. Do you wanna go downstairs and see if we have any food and some water?" he asked.

"Sounds like a good idea. You coming with me?" I replied.

"Sure."

I nodded and got up from the mattress as well. I had slept in my clothes from the day before, so I didn't actually have to get dressed, which was a good thing. However the disadvantage was that I just felt terrible. I yawned and stretched and then looked back at Mordecai, who had had his eyes on me this whole time. He walked over to me and gave me an unexpected hug.

"It'll all be alright, okay?" he said, as he let go of me. I nodded and managed to give him a smile. I had never felt so helpless.

"Let's go, then." I replied and started walking towards the stairs. I tried to see if there was anyone downstairs, but it was dark. I could make out some silhouettes, but it looked like whoever it was, was still asleep. I turned back and gestured for Mordecai to be quiet. I got a nod as a reply.

I quickly and silently walked halfway through the room until I ran into something metallic. There was a loud clanking noise and I whispered a string of swear words, trying to stay quiet. Mordecai was trying to suppress a laugh, but I could still hear him behind me. I noticed some movement from the corner, it looked like the shape of two people. Oh fuck. Here went my plan to stay on the down low.

"Mordy?" asked a sleepy female voice. Lilith. This was Lilith, so the other person must be Roland.

"Uh, no, it's me, Nova. Sorry, I was trying not to wake you. Am gonna head out now, bye." I replied whispering. At this stage, Mordecai's laugh was getting louder.

"Oh, okay. Is Mordy with you?" Lilith asked quietly and in a groggy voice. I felt my face turning bright red. Thank God, it was dark and no one could see my face. This was beyond terrifying.

"Uh... yeah, yeah, he is, actually. Funny coincidence." I answered and could have slapped myself the same moment. Funny coincidence? What the hell? That was the most awkward thing I could have said. Mordecai seemed to find the whole thing incredibly amusing, because he burst out laughing when I said it.

"What's goin' on, Lil?" asked a deep voice in the background. Great. We also woke up Roland now. Why didn't we all go and have breakfast together to make it even more awkward?

"Just Mordy and Nova. Go back to sleep." Lilith whispered to him. I heard him groan and move around a little.

"Also, shut up, Mordy. I'm hungover and tired and I wanna sleep and if you wake me once again, I'll blow your fucking head off." Lilith added, clearly annoyed. Damn. That girl wasn't screwing around.

"Yeah, uhm... we're gonna go and head out now. Uh... bye and... goodnight, I guess." I whispered.

"Cool, bye. Don't come back until we're awake." she replied to me, as we were tiptoeing out of the house.


	31. Chapter 30 or A Long Team Meeting

_song: Amaury Pérez - Andes Lo Que Andes_

I was absolutely exhausted and overly tired, as I dragged myself into the headquarters of the Crimson Raiders in Sanctuary. Roland had actually managed to properly organize the resistance here, with a fancy banner and logo and everything. Funnily enough, not everyone in Sanctuary even had joined the resistance fully and completely. Lilith and Roland were obviously completely in, but Mordecai seemed a little more careful about it. He had seen the state Brick was in after he had finally made it back from Hyperion imprisonment.

That was a long story, too. We had no idea what happened to Brick for ages, until he just finally showed up in Sanctuary again, in a similar state I was in when I got back from the Gulag. He told us everything that had happened - how he went back for Dusty, his puppy, and how he was caught by Jack and his girlfriend, how his girlfriend broke Dusty's neck in front of his eyes. It was terrifying stuff. He had told us about the prison, about working in the mines and how he and a few fellow inmates had blown up the prison and managed to escape.

Brick had joined the Raiders immediately after he got back. Given how much he probably hated Hyperion right now, it made sense. Mordecai, though... it was a different story with him. He was all in when it came to finding information and delivering it to Roland, but he didn't want to get involved in sabotage missions or in defending sanctuary. He had been roaming around the area a lot lately, trying to find another place to stay. I didn't really know what was up with him and it worried me a little, but Mordecai could be stubborn and if he didn't want to talk, that was that.

I more or less jumped at the opportunity to be involved in the resistance. Maybe I was hoping it would give me back some sort of purpose, I don't know. For now it was fairly stressful, since it consisted of guarding the city and spending whole nights building explosives or scouting out the Hyperion train tracks. On top of that, there were regular meetings with everyone at HQ.

I glanced over at Patricia Tannis who was pacing up and down and mumbling to herself in her research room. Poor woman. I've heard rumours that she was terribly tortured by this Jack guy and someone called Wilhelm, who apparently was more of a cyborg than a human and was besties with Jack. Roland had found her with broken bones and beaten to a pulp and relocated her to Sanctuary. But the rest of it was all rumours, since we didn't hear anything official yet.

She looked up at me and squinted, as if she was going to jump at my throat any second now. I mean, I was being kind of rude by staring at her like that. I just quickly nodded towards her and walked upstairs before she had a chance to rip out my eyeballs or something.

It had only been a week or two at this stage, since we had made Sanctuary more or less livable, but everything concerning the resistance already seemed to function like clockwork. As much as Roland could be out of touch with any human emotion these days, he still was brilliant at organizing people.

Every time we had a meeting like this I was either about to start a shift or about to finish one, so I was basically constantly tired. Today I had just finished one, but went to Marcus' shop to fill up on ammunition, because I was running low. Roland, Lilith and Brick were already there. Mordecai would probably be late, he usually was. I suspected the alcohol was behind his reluctance to get involved in things.

"Hey, everyone!" I said and gave them a quick wave as I made my way straight to the little espresso machine in the corner of the room. The good thing about being part of the resistance was that we got some amazing coffee for free.

"Hey, Nova. How was your shift?" Lilith asked with a friendly smile. I sighed and rubbed my eyes. Lilith and I had become fairly close during the last few days. We both were worried about Roland as well as Mordecai. Brick was behaving pretty erratic. We were all on edge with everyone lately.

"Not much happened. Couple of bullymongs, but no Bloodshots, thankfully. They'd almost killed half of us last time." I replied, as I took my cup of coffee and sipped from it. It was still a bit too hot for me, but I needed that caffeine.

"Good to have you here, Nova. Is Mordecai coming today?" Roland asked. He seemed annoyed about something, which wasn't good. I glanced over at Brick, since I hadn't heard anything from him so far. He looked incredibly angry. Uh oh. Not good.

"I assume he is. He didn't tell me otherwise. But you know how he's always late. Probably too sleepy from all the rakk ale." I answered and shrugged. I gave Lilith a worried look and she just grimaced shortly. That meant something terrible was up.

"He really needs to stop drinking. We can't have him in the resistance, if he's hooked on that stuff." Roland started ranting, but he was interrupted. Thankfully. I really couldn't hear it anymore. It's not like I was encouraging Mordecai's drinking or anything, there was nothing I could do.

"You look exhausted." Brick said from his corner, arms crossed and still looking pissed, but probably not at me.

"Yeah, I am. I'm not really getting as much sleep as I should, but at least we've got this stuff." I said, holding up my cup of coffee and taking a big sip immediately after. Lilith was shaking her head.

"We don't have enough people to be guarding the city that heavily. We need to think of something else to keep the Bloodshots away, or the Raiders will die from exhaustion." Lilith said and sat down by the map table.

"Yeah, well, don't hesitate with suggestions, if you have any." I replied and sat down next to her, taking a biscuit from the bowl in the middle of the table. Just as I was taking a bite from it, Bloodwing came sailing in through the balcony door and landed on the edge of the table. She hopped over to me and scrutinised the biscuit in my hand with a curious look in her eyes.

"Hey, girl, what are you doing here all on your own? You want my biscuit?" I said to her, a big smile on my face. I had really grown fond of Bloodwing, even though she still occasionally tried to bite me. I put down the other half of the biscuit as I heard the door open downstairs. That had to be Mordecai.

"You get more beautiful every day, young lady." I cooed as I was scratching her neck gently. Lilith gave me a look that would be best described as a little weirded out, but I didn't care.

"So that's who you left me for, huh? So much for being my best friend." I heard Mordecai's voice from the other side of the room as he came walking towards us. He gave Bloodwing a warm smile, when she looked at him and cawed happily.

"Good you're here, Mordecai. We can start then." Roland said and came into the room. Mordecai sat down next to me and got a biscuit which he shared with Bloodwing. She happily devoured it and hopped back onto his shoulder.

"There's actually a few things we need to talk about. First of all, do any of you have any news?" Roland continued. Brick tensed up visibly, but stayed quiet. I just shrugged and shook my head. I had been staying around Sanctuary the whole time, so anything I knew they'd know as well.

"Well, I already said that we need to somehow distract the Bloodshots from Sanctuary. I might actually have an idea on how to do it, but I'd have to run that by you, Roland." Lilith said. He nodded.

"Just a few things from Tundra Express. I found a nice place to stay there, might be an idea to have a few people stationed there. There's a lot of Hyperion convoys coming through and we could easily use the supplies. It should also make it easy to watch out for what they're doing with their trains while we're there. Another thing is, they are apparently advertising for vault hunters to come to Pandora, but that's all I've heard. I haven't actually seen any new faces, and I also don't know why they're looking for new vault hunters. And number three, they seem to have an interest in finding Sirens, specifically you, Lil." Mordecai said and then leaned back.

"You might have a point with putting some people out to Tundra Express. About Hyperion looking for Sirens... well, you all saw Tannis downstairs, didn't you? Jack and Wilhelm came to her house and tortured her and got the Vault Key from her. She's staying her for now. The last bit of sanity that was left there is gone, I'm afraid. But those two things put together? I don't like them at all. We should keep an eye out for that." Roland replied. I sipped my coffee.

"We also know who betrayed New Haven and what happened to Helena Pierce." Roland announced next. I almost choked on my coffee.

"What? You drop that on us like that?" I blurted out, coughing and trying to get some air. I was hoping for some good news, but the way Roland had phrased that, they were probably bad news.

"It was Shep Sanders and I dealt with him." Brick said in a grumpy voice, looking even more angry than before.

"Yes. And we'll still have to deal with you for that, Brick. That's another point on the list for today. Also, about Helena Pierce: They are all dead. They hijacked a train to escape, but were found by Jack and Wilhelm. There were no survivors." he said.

"Shit." was all that Lilith said. We all kind of knew that was what happened, but we didn't really want to believe it. Until now.

"I know. It's terrible. But we can't really afford to dwell on that. Lil, you said you had a plan to distract the Bloodshots. What's that about?" Roland asked.

"Actually, my plan should work well. I was thinking we make up some new bandit leader or some figure to distract them from Sanctuary. And since Hyperion seems to be on the lookout for me, I could just pretend to be dead, so no one knows it's me." she said. There were gasps all around the room. I groaned in my head. This would be a long meeting, judging from Roland's facial expression.


	32. Chapter 31 or Everyone's Falling Apart

_song: Rolando Alarcon - Ay Carmela_

I was packing up my meager belongings that I had in Sanctuary. I was a little annoyed that with my house all my guns were gone and I had to find new ones that were just as good. What I had now was alright, but I was still missing my old sniper rifle, the one I had gotten from Marcus, the one that was just absolutely perfect for me. Plus, that sawn-off shotgun that almost broke my shoulder every time I used it. I really missed that one, mostly because of how lethal it was.

But apparently it was time to leave Sanctuary, at least for now. The meeting had gone on for hours and ended in Brick being kicked out of the Crimson Raiders with some really harsh words from Roland. None of us really felt that it was fair and Lilith was currently in there, talking to him.

I wasn't leaving because I was kicked out or anything, but simply because we've had a big long talk about Mordecai's plan to have some people in Tundra Express and I was one of the people to go there with him. I wasn't really sad about that, I still didn't feel quite right in Sanctuary, so that would possibly be a nice opportunity to find a good place for myself.

I was only worried that I'd be babysitting Mordecai most of the time. His drinking had gotten even worse and even though he said he was a better shot when he was drunk, he really wasn't good at handling life that way. Plus, I was scared he would get angrier again and I would be the only person there to deal with it.

I absolutely loved and adored Mordecai, but I just had a feeling that I wasn't the ideal person to take care of him. I could barely get my own life together and my standard solution for problems was running away from them. Combine that with a fascist corporation trying to take over your planet and a drunk sniper. Maybe not the best plan. But then again, I liked spending time with Mordecai and I was happy to get out of Sanctuary, at least for now.

I had no idea why I was spending such a huge amount of time gathering my things. I literally had nothing but two changes of clothes, three guns, ammunition and a few healing kits. And some cash that I had managed to gather up. A few rations of food and one or two bottles of water. That was all that I had left. Maybe I could even sneak out my old bedroll. I found it really comfortable and for some reason I couldn't sleep anywhere else, unless Mordecai was with me.

"Hey." I heard someone say from the stairs. I looked up from my backpack that was only half full. Mordecai was standing in the door, looking somewhat concerned.

"Hey." I replied, not sure what I was supposed to say. There was a strange atmosphere around us and it made everything just feel really heavy and exhausting. Or maybe that was just me.

"You sure you wanna come to Tundra Express? I know, I never asked you first, I just told Roland I'd like to take you with me. If you don't wanna go, just say it, it's okay." he said, as he walked over to me and sat down on the floor beside me.

"Sure, I wanna come with you. I mean, where else would I go? You're my best friend, Mordecai." I answered. He shrugged and looked like he was deep in thought. I took another look at the sum of my belongings in my backpack. It was pathetic. I hadn't even had that little stuff when I left Aquator.

"I know, I just... I mean, you only just got here and maybe going away again, after you seemed to sort of settle in might not really be the best idea.", he argued. It looked like he wanted to mention something else and we both knew that he was just as worried about his drinking as I was. But we didn't really talk about it. We didn't know how to. I just shook my head.

"Mordecai, I literally have nothing here. I don't even have enough stuff to fill my backpack. There is nothing keeping me in Sanctuary and if you and Roland think I'd be a better help to the Crimson Raiders out in Tundra Express, then I'm all for it. Being with the resistance gives me something to do."

"You'd have literally nothing out in Tundra Express, either. And it's mostly ice and rock out there. It might not be very comfortable." he answered.

"It wouldn't make a difference to me. Plus, I don't think I can bear being in Sanctuary much longer. There are so many people all in one spot and all they can do all day is get drunk and try not to become insane. The people walking around the city literally have dead eyes and it's freaking me out." I said. And it was true. There were hordes of people wandering around Sanctuary, half of them were completely smashed by noon, the other half kept mumbling to themselves and lately there were those terrible tremors from the Hyperion drills, mining into Pandora's core.

"Okay. I just wanted to make sure, you'll be okay. I feel terrible for not getting you out of the Gulag sooner and now you already have to live like a fugitive, it would be so much worse once Hyperion finds out you're part of the Crimson Raiders. You'd go up high on their wanted list." he said.

"Look, Mordecai, I knew that it would be risky to stick with you guys from the beginning and I still chose to do it. I'll be fine, okay? Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself. I've managed fine for the 32 years I've been alive now. You take care of yourself and that drinking of yours. I'd hate to lose you over some drunken mistake." I replied. I was close to tears at this stage. Not only did I feel exhausted lately, I also got way more emotional. Maybe I wasn't doing as well under adverse circumstances as I always thought I would. Then again, I could be doing much worse.

"I'm trying. It's not that easy, everything just seems terrible since Hyperion set foot on Pandora. And then I just started drinking a lot after Moxxi and I... and before I knew it, I couldn't bring myself to stop. And whenever I try to stop, things just get ugly and... I don't know. I'm trying, but I just can't get anywhere right now. Not without some drink, that is." he said.

"It's okay. When are we leaving?" I asked, trying to change the topic.

"Whenever you're ready, I guess. Do you need anything else?" Mordecai replied. I shrugged.

"I dunno. I kinda wish I had my guns back, but they'll be gone. And I wanna say goodbye to Scooter before we leave. We're taking a car, right?"

"Sure, yeah. I know you don't like fast travel stations." he answered with a smile. I laughed a little.

"Last time I used one I ended up in the middle of a battlefield and I still have nightmares from it. Bad things happen when I use a fast travel station." I said. I was glad I could at least somewhat joke about it now. Thinking back to New Haven was terrible and would get me in a bad mood for days, but it wasn't as bad anymore.

"And I'll never break you out of prison in the first place ever again." Mordecai replied with a small chuckle.

"You'd just leave me all alone to rot in a prison cell?"

"Yeah. Sorry, but you're on your own next time." he answered and shrugged.

"Dick." I said, punching his upper arm lightly. He laughed and then suddenly looked at me with a serious expression.

"You know I wouldn't leave you to rot in a prison cell or anywhere else, don't you?" he asked.

"Of course I know." I answered and gave him a warm smile. This could have been a beautiful moment, if it hadn't been for Lilith storming out of the room we had had our meeting in. She seemed agitated and was cursing under her breath as she walked towards us. Also, Roland wasn't following her and that was a bad sign. A very, very bad sign.

"How'd it go, Lil?" I asked carefully, being fully aware that that question could make her punch me straight in the face. She sat down on the bed opposite Mordecai and me and glared at me.

"How'd you think it went?" she asked.

"Uh... bad?" Mordecai replied.

"Bad is an understatement." Lilith said and hid her face in her hands. I looked over at Mordecai and our eyes met. We were both clueless as to how to approach this situation without being killed. I loved Lilith from the depths of my heart, but she could be a fickle bitch if she wanted to.

"Shit, I'm sorry, Lil." I said, waiting for a reaction from her. Nothing.

"So... uh... what happened?" Mordecai asked. Lilith looked up at that, tears running down her face, and her makeup smeared all over the place. From what she looked like, it must have been really, really bad.

"He broke up with me." she said quietly and hid her face behind her hands again. Mordecai and I looked at each other. This was bad.


	33. Chapter 32 or Morning Routine

_song: The Last Internationale - Fire_

"Time to get up, Mordy." I mumbled, me being half asleep myself. I slowly opened my eyes. The sun was shining through the small window, which made the place look somewhat pleasant.

"No... don't wanna..." Mordecai muttered behind me and turned around. I rolled my eyes. It was incredibly difficult to wake him up in the morning, especially when he had been drinking. Which was pretty much every day. He didn't pass out drunk every day, but he was drinking every day.

"Come on, we gotta get up, we're running low on food." I said and sat up. It was only a little chilly, so it wasn't too difficult to leave the warm, woollen blanket behind. Mordecai and I had made our home in a large tower in Tundra Express from which it was easy to snipe things and from where we also had a good overview over the area. It was a pretty spacious place, compared to the small apartments in New Haven and Sanctuary. Definitely bigger than the bunk beds in HQ.

I didn't really plan on moving in with Mordecai permanently, when we left Sanctuary, but somehow I never bothered to find a new place, and Mordecai seemed happy enough with this arrangement, so I just stayed.

It wasn't like I didn't have this weird thing for him anymore, but it was just so exhausting and emotionally draining to be there and watch him drink himself to death a little more every day. I didn't know how long I would still be able to live like that, but I also had no energy to go and find my own place. So here I was, trying to manage somehow, without going insane.

We had been tasked with looking out for Tina a little, since Roland deemed Sanctuary too unsafe for her. She could easily take care of herself, but then again, she was just a child. I liked her and she was really good with her explosives, so we usually had something to do. I was a little worried about her experimenting on her own, since it was by no means safe, but there was really nothing I could do to stop her.

I put on my old worn-out cargo pants and groggily walked towards the little bathroom. This was an unusual luxury for Pandora, but since Mordecai was basically loaded with cash, it was easy to buy this place from the local bandits. I was actually surprised at how peaceful they seemed to be (and also at how we didn't try to kill them anyways, but it was probably a better cover to hide amongst them).

We even had the luxury of running water, although it wasn't very warm water. It got lukewarm at best, but that was okay. Better than nothing. Mordecai didn't care much anyways, and I was still happy to have anything at all after the Gulag. I splashed some cold water into my face and looked into the mirror. For some reason every mirror I ever owned was broken. This one here was no exception.

It probably didn't come as a surprise that I looked terrible beyond belief. I was pale (and not like a pretty pale, a kind of greenish-greyish kind of pale), dark rings under my eyes and my lips were dry and sore from the cold. I had started getting a few wrinkles even. They weren't very noticeable, but to me they were. And it was bothering me ever so slightly.

I took my small cloth that was lying on the edge of the sink and started washing myself quickly. I shivered as the cold water touched my skin, I still wasn't fully used to the constant cold. I heard some noise coming from the other room, sounded like Mordecai had finally fallen out of bed. I heard how he reached for the bottle of rakk ale that was left on the table.

I smiled a little, although I felt more like crying. Mordecai starting to drink that early in the morning was a common occurrence by now, it had almost become a part of my life. But at the same time I knew it was slowly killing him and I did care a lot for him. Then again, I felt like I couldn't really blame him. With Hyperion, everything on Pandora had basically gone to shit and who was I to tell him what to do?

"Morning." Mordecai said, standing behind me, a big grin on his face. I turned around and looked up at him, mumbling a "good morning" as well as I possibly could with a toothbrush in my mouth.

"Why exactly did we have to get up so early?" he asked, gathering his dreadlocks in one hand and tying them up quickly.

"We've got stuff to do." I answered, spitting out some water I had used to rinse my mouth. I was careful not to drink the water. It was probably okay to drink it, I just didn't really trust it too much.

"What stuff?"

"You're incredibly forgetful, Mordy."

"Sorry." he mumbled and took a swig from his rakk ale. I sighed quietly, but Mordecai noticed.

"Shit, I know it's early, but... just today. I'll stop tomorrow, promise." he said. I bit my lip and forced myself to smile at him. We both knew full well that he wouldn't stop. He wouldn't stop until something terrible happened to him and he'd finally wake up and stop drinking out of his own free will.

"Of course you will, Mordecai." I replied. He suddenly hugged me tight. It shouldn't surprise me that much anymore, he had been mellowed out quite a bit by the alcohol. Most days, at least. Still, it felt comforting.

"I can't believe you're still here with me. I'm a terrible person. I don't deserve anyone sticking with me through all that. But you... and Blood... you all deserve so much better. I'm sorry, I'm like this." he mumbled and finally let go of me. Those emotional outbursts were nothing new to me anymore. They happened when he was still sober enough, but he never actually managed to stay away from the booze for more than a few days. Maybe one day he'd make it.

"It's okay, Mordy. Look, we're all trying our best, okay? We'll get through this whole mess, somehow." I answered. _Hopefully both alive._ I didn't want to say that, though. I gave him a short pat on the shoulders and went back to the bedroom to pick up my shirt and my jacket from the floor and put them on. I really thought it would take me longer to get used to living with someone.

"So what do we have to do today?" Mordecai asked, putting the bottle down on the table and rummaging through his pile of clothes.

"We gotta check up on Tina, I feel like she's not really eating... much. Besides cookies." I started, but was interrupted immediately.

"Eating's overrated."

"Just 'cause you don't like it, doesn't mean it isn't good for you. We will check up on her and see if she's okay."

"Fine. What else?"

"We have to hunt, we're running low on food. And if we have time we or at least one of us should check in with Roland in Sanctuary. I think they're having their Crimson Raider meeting thing today, so yeah, we should probably go and say that we don't have any new info except for those poor sods that were killed by Jack on the train." I said. It was quite a list of responsibilities.

"Do you wanna go to Sanctuary? We can check up on Tina on the way to a good hunting spot and you can just leave early, then." Mordecai suggested. I knew he didn't really want the others to see how bad his drinking had gotten, even though they all already knew about it. He had a bit of shame left.

"Sounds like an idea. I wanted to go and check up on Lilith anyways, I might just stay in Sanctuary for the night and then go and see her. Will you be alright without me?" I asked with a smirk.

"What am I, a toddler? 'Course I'll be alright." he replied with a huff.

"Good. You thinking of heading into the Dust or Three Horns for hunting?"

"Three Horns? That's on the way to Tina, isn't it?" Mordecai asked. I couldn't believe he had lost his sense of direction so easily. Maybe he just didn't care enough anymore. It was a shame, because usually Mordecai knew every patch of land on Pandora inside out and it was really helpful for everyone else.

"It is indeed. Plus, we should get some really nice Bullymong bacon from that. I know you like that stuff." I replied as I packed up my ammunition and strapped a holster to my leg for a smaller handgun. I had finally found a few nice and useful guns again and I was happy I had opportunities to use them.

I wasn't in many sabotage missions anymore, since I was in Tundra Express, but I was put in charge of building loads and loads of explosives with the help of Tina. To be fair, that girl could easily do the job on her own. Her incredible talent for handling and building explosives made both me and Moxxi jealous. If she had been in business around the same time I was, Tina would have easily put me out of business, once she had learned a few basics.

"You ready, Mordy?" I asked as I grabbed my sniper rifle from a tall cabinet opposite the bed. He looked at me, just about to put on his shirt.

"Well, what do you think?" he replied in a sarcastic tone, which made both of us laugh. No matter how lazy Mordy had gotten since taking up his drinking habits, at least he hadn't lost his dry humour. I watched him put on his shirt, his insane amount of scarves, his bandana, googles, combat boots, pouches and belts and holsters, until he finally got his guns and was ready to go.

I really needed to get out and fire a few guns again.


	34. Chapter 33 or Straight Talk

_song: Halsey - Gasoline_

I was sitting on a worn down couch in a little one-room house out in Three Horns. I was wrapped in a blanket and had a big tub of ice cream in my hand which was already half-finished. In front of me was a TV with some sappy ECHOnet show on it and next to me was Lilith, wrapped up and equipped with ice cream as well. This was the girliest thing I had ever done and I was loving it.

I got to Lilith's hideout at some stage close to noon and she had just raided a small Hyperion convoy the day before. So we had ice cream en masse and could just lie around, chill and get fat.

"But you have like the perfect comparison: How much influence did Moxxi have on Mordy? You know... in bed?" she asked. I seriously had no idea how this whole thing came up, but at this stage we were too far into the discussion to put a stop to it.

"Well... first off, I can't believe we are having this discussion. And secondly, he's still crap at opening bras." I replied. Lilith huffed.

"It's weird how they're all good with their guns and their mechanics and shit, but something as simple as a bra is a mystery to them." she replied to that, shaking her head and scooping up some ice cream.

"So Roland, too?"

"Yup."

"Huh. Okay, I did ask, but I'm just realizing that might have been a little too much information for me." I replied. Lilith laughed and sat up from her slumped down position.

"I'm surprised Mordy didn't come with you. Was he in Sanctuary at least?" she asked. I shook my head.

"Doesn't get up to much these days. Mostly because he can barely walk straight most of the time. Still amazing at shooting, though." I said.

"Shit. I was kinda hoping he'd get a bit better with you out there. But looks like that's not the case." she replied and sighed. This conversation had gotten dark quickly. Happened a lot lately, unfortunately.

"He has gotten a little better. He's trying once in a while to stop, but he always goes back to his rakk ale in the end. He doesn't pass out as much anymore, so that's good. Still, he's slowly killing himself and we can all see it happening. I just don't think there's much of a point in forcing him to stop or nagging him about it. Mordy just isn't that kind of person. Too stubborn. Too spiteful. He's got to wanna stop himself." I explained and shrugged. I really didn't know what to say or what to do about the Mordecai situation. It was like everyone was expecting answers of me, though.

"I know, I know. I just miss him. He's like a brother to me, I hate seeing him hurt himself like that." she replied shaking her head.

"Hey, same here, but there is nothing I can do about it, honestly." I said and shrugged. I felt some tears welling up inside me. This was bad. This wasn't the time to get all emotional. Or maybe it was just the time.

"Oh damn. Okay, be honest with me: Are you really doing okay? Because if you need to get out, we can probably arrange to send you on some more longer missions, I'm sure I could talk to Roland about that and..."

I had to hide my face, because all of a sudden all the emotions I had penned up inside since we took over Sanctuary broke out of me and I was just bawling my eyes out, the tub of ice cream still in my hands. It was probably the most pathetic sight ever, but I couldn't help it.

"Oh shit. You're not okay. Fuck. Just let it out. Tell me everything." she said and looked like she was going to start panicking any second. I just kept bawling my eyes out for a good while until I was actually able to form coherent thoughts, let alone words. I hadn't been this bad in ages.

"I don't even know. It's just so much. I care for Mordecai, I really do, and it breaks my heart to see him like that and just... I have no idea what we are. I mean, yeah, we have sex and all, but are we friends? Do we just hook up sometimes? Or are we like in a relationship? I'm so confused and all I want is just a bit of stability, because... because I'm scared and worried about everything else that's happening. It's like everything's falling apart and I just don't know where my life is going right now and at the same time I know I'm getting older and older and it scares me. I just wish none of this had happened."

"Damn. That's... I don't know what to say and I'm really not good at this thing, but do you maybe need a hug or something? Not really the hugging type, but..." Lilith said, giving me a worried look. I just nodded, tears still streaming down my face. She hugged me kind of awkwardly, but I pulled her closer. One of Lilith's rare hugs honestly felt pretty good and it helped me calm down a little.

"Shit, I'm a fucking mess, aren't I?" I said and laughed a little, as I wiped the tears from my face.

"You kinda are, but you're allowed to be. Mordecai could be really difficult before he started drinking and I can't even imagine what he's like now. You're doing great putting up with all that, especially after you were in New Haven and the Gulag. You really shouldn't have been involved in any of this at all and neither should Mordy or Brick. It was Roland and me who screwed things up on Elpis." Lilith said and gave me some tissue. I quickly blew my nose, so I was somewhat able to breathe again.

"Well, I guess shit happens. But now that I was honest, how are you? You know, with Roland breaking up and all." I asked. Lilith looked down and sighed, then she just shrugged.

"I really don't know. I'm trying to see him from time to time, but he's always really annoyed at me when we meet up, because _'I really shouldn't be here.'; 'I don't have time for this, Lilith.'; 'Hyperion can't find out you're still alive.'_ and all. And I get that, it just really hurts when he gets like this, you know?"

"Shit, that sounds bad. I mean he's right, but still. Do you think he's still into you?" I replied. _Do you think he still loves you?_ I didn't wanna say that, though. I really had no business bringing any of that up.

"I like to think he does still like me, even though it doesn't seem like it. He's Roland, he does care in his own particular way. I suppose at the moment he just has other priorities, which I can understand. I just don't understand why he can't combine those two things, but that's not up to me, is it?" she answered.

"Guess not." I agreed. We were sitting around quietly for a while, just lost in thought, while the ice cream in our hands was melting.

"We're a sad bunch, aren't we?" I said after a while.

"We really are. Shit, I hate being hidden away in this craphole and just waiting for something to happen, it's fucking annoying and I can't stand it!" Lilith exclaimed suddenly and shook her head violently.

"I know what you mean. It's like we're just out here waiting for Hyperion to attack us again. Like we're not really making any progress against them."

"It's frustrating!"

"Hell yeah, it is."

"I hate it! I hate it so much!"

"Same."

Everything was quiet again for a while after that sudden outburst. I could understand her frustration. Lilith was an impulsive person, being stuck in a place like this while not being able to actively do something was probably hellish for her. It was getting to me, too, but not as much.

"You know who I miss?" she asked. I just shrugged.

"Brick." she answered her own question.

"Oh yeah. What is he doing? Do you know? Last thing I heard was about him being kicked out because he smashed Shep Sanders' head in." I said. _And to be fair, Shep Sanders had it coming._

"He's sitting around in Thousand Cuts, gathering bandits around him. Brick would've been doing something. I'm still mad at Roland for kicking him out of the Crimson Raiders. What he did, was a little uncalled for, but... I mean, he was right. Shep Sanders betrayed us. What did he think would happen?" she replied.

"Yeah. I was never that close to Brick, but he seemed like he was just a sweetheart, honestly. Except for the killing people part, but we're all guilty of that."

"Well, if Brick was still with us, he'd be sitting here and eating ice cream with us, that's the kinda person he is." Lilith said.

"Shit, that sounds like it would have been fun."

"It would have, if our little group wasn't falling apart like it is."


	35. Chapter 34 or The Girl With The Robot

_song: The Heavy - Short Change Hero_

I was standing on our little tower platform, shooting at some varkids. We needed some more food again, but I mostly did it to get some practise and to distract myself. Mordecai was gone talking to some Hyperion informant to get some information. He didn't want me to come with him, which was sweet on the one hand, since he didn't want me to be put back into the Gulag, or even worse.

On the other hand it really annoyed me, because I was now worried about him. We had no guarantee whatsoever that our informants wouldn't turn on us or sell information back to Hyperion themselves. We could be walking into a trap anytime and it was keeping me on edge.

While I was trying to focus on the hunting, I couldn't help but fiddle with my ECHO. I kept trying to find some interesting frequencies. I had taken to hacking into Mordecai's ECHO for a while when he was away, but he had caught me one time and wasn't too happy about it. So now I just kept trying to pick up some random frequencies to see whether I would find something interesting.

I had turned into some Hyperion broadcast a while ago and while it was interesting and we could gather a good bit of information from it, it was also sickening for me to hear the bullshit they were broadcasting. But on a good day, I did enjoy cringing at their lies, so I figured it might be time to tune in again.

That was if I could find the frequency they used. Mordecai had it saved on his ECHO, but I didn't, mostly so no one could track down my signal. It was slightly annoying me, but I could see the reasoning behind it. Plus, someone usually was needed to keep an eye on Tina who was building lethal bombs in her little workshop. The girl was an absolute maniac when it came to explosives.

As I reached for my ECHO, I saw the message light flashing. Weird, that I hadn't seen that before, but maybe I was just too caught up in my own mind. I put down my sniper rifle and sat down on the platform, my legs dangling off the edge of it. There was a soft breeze and the sun was just setting and for the first time in what seemed like an eternity I felt somewhat at peace.

I pressed the button to play the message. There was some static and some white noise until I heard Mordecai's familiar voice. I felt some relief at first, because hearing his voice meant that he was still alive, but then I started worrying, because I didn't know how long that message had been there.

 _"We're done here, everything went well. I'll be back in about an hour, after the usual routine. See you then."_

I sighed, feeling relieved again. The usual routine was Mordecai going through several Fast Travel stations to get back so it would be incredibly difficult for Hyperion to track us down in any way. He would still be at least half an hour, I figured, since I remembered checking my ECHO half an hour ago and not seeing any messages back then. I took a deep breath.

The good thing about Tundra Express was, that the air was really good out here. It was a little cold sometimes, but it was fresh and clear and it often made me feel better to just sit outside for a while and look at the tundra spreading out in front of me and listen to the varkids below.

The last few weeks had been pretty good, even though I didn't really know why. I had been feeling better and more hopeful, and I noticed even Mordecai hadn't been drinking as much as usual. He still had his normal ration of alcohol to keep him going, but he was really trying to stop there.

I absentmindedly messed around a little with the ECHO device, not really trying to find a signal, but still getting some stuff in. Some guy was mumbling in a low voice and was on about some conspiracy theories, there was the usual Hyperion newscast, talking about the bounties on everyone's head. The next channel I got was a girl talking. She sounded fairly young, maybe around 16 or 17.

 _"Umm... so, hello... huh... my... twenty thousand subscribers. Wow! Okay. Okay. So, you may have heard on the ECHO news bulletins Deathtrap may have... slightly, uh, killed... my classmate Marcie at last night's Science Fair."_

Huh. That sounded pretty interesting. I turned the volume up a little and listened in more.

 _"All that stuff that, like, really impressed the judges, while Marcie's little rip-off bot could barely fire two lasers before overheating. So, things were looking good. I was looking really brilliant. Unfortunately, I forgot that Marcie's dad has more money than God, so he bought off the entire judges panel. So Marcie's project won first prize and I earned... third place. Third. Place. That is what we call politics, people. And it's really unfair, because I..._

 _Okay, anyway, Marcie started gloating. She started pointing and laughing at me, and then she... pushed me. It's - ok that's when things got... messy. Deathtrap recognized Marcie as a threat, so he gave her a quick slash with his digistruct claws. No big deal. That's what it's supposed to do! And I must have miscalibrated... them last night when I was... adding the discord circuits... 'cause the second his claws touched Marcie's skin she kind of... like... um... Okay, she exploded! She's like... EVERYWHERE! It... skin... things, uh, eyeballs, I don't know, it was gross!_

 _Anyway, sorry. After they finished cleaning up Marcie and the auditorium I was escorted to the principal's office, which I've never been to before, and I found out I wasn't getting expelled or arrested for what Deathtrap did to Marcie. I'm being expelled AND arrested for what Deathtrap did to Marcie, and Marcie is not getting any sort of recourse for what she did to me, which was a serious shove, and I am traumatized because, ehhh..."_

I turned the ECHO up again, because holy shit, that was one hell of a story. If it was true, that is. But the way that poor girl sounded, she was at least traumatized from something and I wanted to know what happened next.

 _"Good job, Dad... so that I could slip away. So, anyway, long story short, I'm currently ECHO-casting from the cozy confines of a transplanetary shuttle. Dad and I figured I should probably head somewhere where the cops and their, hmm, "Crime-Buster Bots" couldn't find me. So... so after a teary farewell...I love you, Daddy!... I grabbed a ticket to Pandora. Which, I-I mean... I-I-I've always been kind of interested in Vault hunting, but who knows? Maybe here my talents will actually be appreciated and I won't go to jail for being brilliant. Third place. I mean, seriously! Bastards."_

That was the end of the transmission and I sat there, mouth wide open. I mean, what were the chances? She was coming to Pandora, running away from whatever authorities, to go Vault Hunting. Her talents would surely be appreciated by the Crimson Raiders, that much was sure. Unfortunately, Jack would probably try to kill her and whoever would arrive with her on Pandora. He had killed all the Vault Hunters and treasure seekers that had arrived to date, absolutely no exception.

I quickly saved the frequency, so I could find it again. I was heading to Sanctuary tomorrow anyways, maybe Roland would be able to do anything about it. I kept screwing around with the frequencies on the ECHO, as I was thinking and picked up another transmission not too far from here, somewhere out in Southern Shelf region.

 _"-sident of Hyperion. Lemme explain how things work here: Vault Hunter shows up. Vault Hunter looks for the new Vault. Vault Hunter gets killed. By me. You see- seeing the problem here? You're still alive. So, if you could just do me a favour and off yourself, that'd be great. Thanks, pumpkin."_

What? What was that? There was silence on the frequency after that. I checked if I could rewind that thing and surprisingly I managed to. I listened to the message over and over and after a while it started making sense. If I really got what they said. I jumped up, grabbed my sniper rifle and ran inside. I quickly threw a few clothes and guns into my backpack, because I had to leave for Sanctuary right now. It would be no good if I waited until tomorrow. I needed to go now. I bolted down the stairs and ran outside the tower. I saw Mordecai walking towards me with a big smile on his face, which quickly turned into a confused expression.

"Where're you going, Nova?" he asked, as I was jogging towards him. I gave him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek, before turning around and quickly jogging towards the Fast Travel station. I still disliked them, but this was important and I needed to get to Sanctuary as fast as possible.

"Need to go and talk to Roland, no time!" was all I answered Mordecai. He came after me towards the Fast Travel.

"Why? What's going on? Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Come to Sanctuary as soon as you can, okay? I found some interesting ECHO transmissions and I really need to show Roland, so I gotta run." I replied, as I was typing in the code for Sanctuary.

"Why can't it wait until tomorrow?"

"Vault Hunters. They're alive."


	36. Chapter 35 or Jack Is An Asshole

_song: AWOLNATION - Sail_

Roland was pacing up and down in the main room of the HQ in Sanctuary. I was lying on the sofa lazily, sipping on some nice hot tea and watching Roland. I had spent some time listening to the rest of this girl's ECHO casts and they were pretty entertaining, if I was honest. I was surprised she only had so few followers before... well, the incident with her classmate happened. Which left a huge bounty on her head, as well. Probably way more than was on any of our heads.

Roland and I had checked the bounty on her and it was massive. I mean, for killing a school girl it was an extremely high bounty, but that was probably due to the fact that her father was loaded and that the whole thing happened on Eden-5 where people in general had more money. Roland had tried for a while to find out about any of the other Vault Hunters that apparently arrived, but the ECHOnet was fairly quiet.

I heard the door downstairs opening and some heavy boots stomping upstairs. I shook my head smiling.

"Mordy's here." I said to Roland. He gave me a confused look, but was interrupted by Mordecai coming into the room, out of breath, with his stuff in his hand.

"What the hell is going on?" was the first thing Mordecai said. He looked from Roland to me and back to Roland.

"Nova picked up some interesting ECHO transmissions that suggest that there is a group of Vault Hunters out there that's still alive. Somewhere out by the Southern Shelf. Jack's been personally talking to them." Roland said.

"So why are we sitting around here?" Mordecai asked. I just shrugged. Roland always had good reasons for stuff, I rarely questioned them.

"We could be walking right into a Hyperion trap, if we go. We literally know nothing about these supposed Vault Hunters. We should wait and see if we can get anything else on them first." he explained.

"But-" Mordecai started protesting, but I never let him finish.

"Shut up, everyone, I think I got something new!" I said and turned up the volume on my ECHO. There was some grizzly noise.

 _"...still offering a reward for Roland, the mass-murdering leader of the Crimson Raiders. Good hunting, bandits!"_ was all I could get after that. We had missed the first part of the message. Damn. I was about to try and rewind that, when I heard some other signal chiming in. I held my breath.

 _"A million bucks?! Alright, boys - this is Captain Flynt! I want you to find that Vault Hunter and bring 'em to me! NOW!"_

"Flynt...? Wasn't that some bandit group leader? Didn't we kill that guy?" Mordecai asked. I just shrugged and started fiddling with the ECHO to see if I could get the beginning of the first message back.

"Maybe somehow related to the guy we killed? There is a group of bandits hiding out in the Southern Shelf, I know about them, but not much else. Nova, can you get the beginning of that back?" Roland asked.

"Working on it right now." I said.

"You still think it could be a trap?" Mordecai asked, sounding exasperated. Roland sighed and shook his head.

"No, but we really have other problems at the moment. They'll probably go and find Sanctuary, if they're smart. We have to keep the city safe from the Bloodshots, they're trying to overrun us every other day." Roland replied.

"Well, maybe sending Lil away wasn't such a great idea, after all." Mordecai countered and sounded angrier than I had ever heard him. It was probably for the best he got away from Sanctuary. Things had been tense lately and Roland seemed to make a lot of people angry with his decisions.

"Shut up, both of you. I got the message." I interrupted. I wasn't sure if I had the message or not, that remained to be seen, but I didn't want them going at each other's throats. I really hoped this would work off the bat.

 _"Attention, people of Pandora! Handsome Jack here, offering a million bucks to whomever brings me the head of the Vault Hunter who just arrived in Liar's Berg. Oh, and I'm still offering a reward for Roland, the mass-murdering leader of the Crimson Raiders. Good hunting, bandits!"_ Jack's obnoxious voice spat from my ECHO device.

"Oh damn. He _really_ wants them dead, doesn't he?" I said after a minute of silence. Both Mordecai and Roland just stared at me, as if that was the dumbest thing they had ever heard me say. And I was sure, at least Mordecai had heard me saying way more dumb shit. We used to get drunk together.

"What? I mean, obviously he does, but this constant silence is keeping me on edge, guys. The air here is so thick I could cut it with a knife. Just trying to loosen everything up a bit." I justified myself.

"No, no, no. If they're in Liar's Berg, that means they probably met someone we know..." Roland said and smiled a little.

"Someone we know? I don't even know where Liar's Berg is." I said.

"There is someone called Sir Hammerlock. He's living in Liar's Berg at the moment to study animals or something." Roland explained.

"Okay. So what about him?" I asked.

"I'll go and contact him and ask if he knows anything about those new Vault Hunters. Wait in here and don't do anything stupid, okay?" Roland said to me and Mordecai and took off with his ECHO device. I looked at Mordecai, slightly confused.

"Don't look at me like that, I barely know what he's on about myself." Mordecai mumbled and shrugged. He sat down next to me on the couch.

"So you think he'll go and find them?" I asked. Mordecai shrugged again.

"Doubt it. He's Roland, after all." he answered. I kept screwing around with my ECHO. Maybe I'd stumble upon something else that was interesting, but I soon decided to go back to the original frequency we had just heard a message from.

 _"...mate Boom Bewm is gonna kill ya, Jack's gonna pay us, and I'm gonna play hopscotch in your chest cavity!"_

I looked over at Mordecai. Of course there'd be more happening once Roland was gone and couldn't actually hear the transmissions.

"That's Flynt again, isn't it?" I asked him.

"Sounds like him. Damn. I sure hope they'll survive this. We could use some people like them in Sanctuary to actually fight Jack. We're barely able to protect the city, as it is. I can't really see any way for us to get to Jack on our own." he replied with a sigh and got his own ECHO.

"Can you give me the frequency? I think I'm gonna get some recordings of this, in case Roland misses them." he said. I nodded and showed him the frequency on my ECHO device, keeping my mouth shut, so we wouldn't miss any other transmissions. And sure enough, we soon got more.

 _"Hey! How - ah, these pretzels suck... So, how's your day been, buddy? We haven't really talked much since I left you for dead. Hey, you think you'll freeze to death out there? Nah, probably not. The bandits'll get you first. My day? It's been pretty good. Just bought a pony made of diamonds, because I'm rich. So, you know. That's cool. Kay, bye."_

"What a fucking douche." I commented.

"I know, right? Can't believe Moxxi left me for that... that... fascist!" Mordecai answered. I laughed.

"That was one big mistake on her side, I'd say."

"Well, she'd be with a drunk otherwise." Mordecai replied quietly. I honestly had no idea what to say to that. I mean, it was true. But it was also obvious he felt bad about it. I just looked at him, still thinking about what to answer.

"I'm sorry. I know, I shouldn't be drinking and I've tried to stop so many times, but I just can't. Not right now. I can't afford to not function for weeks right now." he said and looked as if he was embarrassed. I hadn't really seen Mordecai embarrassed, ever. I didn't even know that he was so aware of his drinking.

"I... I never thought that was what you were thinking. Shit, man." I answered. Mordecai smiled weakly.

"I do know how fucking useless I am right now. I'm sorry. I really don't know how anyone puts up with me."

"You're not useless. Stop saying that. Look, it's okay. Just... will you try and quit once all this is over? When Jack is dead and Pandora is okay again?"

"Of course. I just hope you'll be able to put up with me for that long."

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course I will. We've been friends for how long now? 6 years or something?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I think so. That's a pretty long time alright." he replied.

 _"I'm rackin' my brain trying to think of a name for that diamond pony I bought. I was gonna call it 'piss-for-brains' in honor of you, but that just feels immature. Maybe... 'Butt Stallion'? Nah, that's even worse. Tell ya what, I'll give it some more thought."_

I looked down at my ECHO device, shaking my head in disbelief. I had met this Jack guy in person once, when he was scooping out someone's eyeballs with a spoon. I thought I couldn't abhor him more, but apparently that was possible.

"What an asshole." I heard Mordecai mumble next to me.


	37. Chapter 36 or Time To Get Dirty

_song: M.I.A. - Boyz_

The sun was burning mercilessly and it was getting more difficult to breathe the closer we got towards the Eridium mines. Roland had sent us out to get some information from Hyperion, so we made our way towards the Info Stockade in the Arid Nexus, as they called it now. Mordecai seemed fairly upset about how they had kept Fyrestone, but to be honest, I never had much of a connection to it.

"So? Any ideas on how to get in there without getting killed by a bunch of loaders?" I asked, looking at the Info Stockade that was overlooking the badlands. It was so far inside Hyperion territory, it was insane to just wander in.

"Let me check the map again. I've checked up on this area a few times, but it looks like they've been busy building since then." he mumbled. I let him do his thing and shot at a few skags. Maybe we would have some time to take one or two back, so we'd have some nice food again. We probably wouldn't have time, though. Shame.

"Okay, you ready to get dirty?" he asked, a smug grin on his face.

"What, here? Now? I don't know, man, doesn't really seem like the time to..."

"The Eridium pipeline, silly."

"Sorry, you lost me. I'm not catching your drift. What about the pipeline?" I wanted to know. I really had no clue what he was getting at.

"This is the main Eridium pipeline. It should technically lead us right to the Info Stockade. And if I'm not wrong then there's a ladder right there." he explained.

"Oh, so we'll get there on top of the pipeline! What's that got to do with getting dirty, though?" I replied. I was still kind of dumbfounded, as I was looking through the scope of my rifle to find the ladder.

"Are you being like that on purpose?"

"Uh... no?"

"We're going inside the pipeline. It'll be really messy, but it'll do the job, I suppose." Mordecai said, as he pointed my rifle towards the ladder. I looked through the scope again and saw what he meant - the ladder didn't reach far enough to get on top of the pipeline, but there was a maintenance hatch that would allow us to get inside the pipeline relatively easily. I put down my rifle.

"Let's go then. Get it over with. I kinda doubt it's gonna be a pleasant experience, being bathed in Eridium basically." I answered and got up from our hiding spot.

"Alright. Looks like everything's clear now anyways." Mordecai said and got up as well. We walked down towards the maintenance hatch, one hand always on our guns. You never knew when there would be some Hyperion engineers coming to the pipeline for repairs. They always just came out of nowhere.

"Nervous?" he asked after we walked silently for a while.

"A little." I admitted. I was hoping the panic wouldn't return. I had been dealing well with them lately, but this was a whole different kind of thing. There was much more risk involved and way more at stake.

"It'll be alright. Don't worry too much, okay? I need you to focus on this."

"Yeah, I know, but... shit, how do you know we won't... you know... die?"

"They wouldn't kill us. They'd use us to get to Roland, I'd assume."

"Huh. Well. I'm not sure if that's any better or not, but let's roll with it." I said. We had almost made it to the maintenance hatch. From down here it looked way higher up than from our little rock hideout.

"Do you wanna go first?" I asked Mordecai. He grimaced.

"Can't say I want to, but I guess I'll go first. This is gonna be terrible." he replied and started climbing the ladder with a sigh. I was waiting down below until he had opened the maintenance hatch. It seemed way too easy, no engineers or loaders in sight. A big load of liquid Eridium came flowing out of the pipeline.

"You were right about the messy part." I said and started climbing the ladder as well. Mordecai stuck his head inside the pipeline and waved for me to follow him inside. I climbed up the ladder a little quicker as he climbed inside the pipeline as if he had been doing nothing else his entire life.

Once I had reached the top of the ladder I looked inside. It was dark and gloomy, the pipeline was fairly narrow, but big enough to stand in it at least. Mordecai was kneeling in the pipeline and grinned at me.

"Come on in, it's cozy in here."

I shook my head and climbed inside the pipeline, probably not looking even half as elegant as Mordecai had looked. I swear, sometimes I suspected that man was some sort of cat with the way he was moving around.

I had finally made it inside and was trying to get rid of some Eridium that got on my clothes, but I probably could give up on that. Mordecai was closing the hatch again. It was incredibly dark inside the pipeline, as it was only lit by the purple glow of the Eridium. It felt incredibly eerie, especially since it was so silent inside and every noise echoed through the pipeline and sounded creepy.

"You okay?" Mordecai asked.

"Yeah. It's pretty dark. You know where we have to go?" I asked. He seemed to be looking at his ECHO and then nodded. I was kind of surprised that the ECHOs would still work inside the pipeline, but at least we wouldn't miss it, if something happened with the new Vault Hunters. I had the frequency saved and set to record anything that was said.

And of course, there was a quiet beep from my ECHO device just as I thought that. Mordecai and I looked at each other.

"It's one of my saved frequencies. You wanna listen to it now?" I asked.

"Might as well. We're gonna have a good bit of walking ahead of us." Mordecai said and shrugged. We started walking while I tried to get the message in the dark, while also focussing on not slipping in the Eridium.

 _"Sometimes I envy you bandits. You're so... unburdened with things like intelligence, culture, morality, honor, ambition, good looks... I could go on but I won't. But I could."_

That was Jack. I don't know why, but every single time I heard him talk, he made me more angry. At this stage, I just hated the guy.

 _"Ah, dignity! Almost forgot to mention dignity."_

There were some noises from a horse in the background.

 _"Easy Butt Stallion! Easy!"_

The ECHO went quiet after that. I looked at Mordecai who was just shaking his head with a bitter expression on his face.

"I don't know how often I have to say it, but what an asshole." he mumbled. I was about to agree with him, when the ECHO made some noise again.

 _"Ah, so you're the one I've been hearin' all this radio chatter about. Name's Roland. I used to be a Vault Hunter like you, until I formed the Crimson Raiders. We'll catch up when I get back to Sanctuary - for now, I need your help. My men tell me Corporal Reiss hasn't returned the power core we need to keep the city's shields running. Bring Reiss back to Sanctuary, and you'll have earned your place in the Raiders."_

"Reiss is in trouble? Shit." Mordecai mumbled.

"Well, at least we know the Vault Hunters actually made it somewhere near Sanctuary. If they'll manage to get in, that would be good for us. Maybe we'd actually have a chance to take down Jack then." I replied.

"Yeah, I suppose so. Let's hurry up and get this job done, so we'll be done and can get some info on those new Vault Hunters. Plus, I kinda feel like Jack is distracted with the new guys for now, so maybe we'll have it a little easier here."

"Sounds like a plan."

Mordecai checked his ECHO again and looked around for something. He found another ladder soon enough and we climbed out into some sort of maintenance shaft. From there we got to some sort of station.

"Where are we?" I asked as we walked outside.

"Fyrestone. We gotta take an elevator up to the Stockade over there, if I'm not wrong." Mordecai replied and got his gun ready. I did the same, even though I was basically blinded by the sudden light. I followed Mordecai quietly, while my eyes were slowly getting used to the bright light. I was surprised how easy things were until now.

"Any loaders?" I asked quietly.

"None that can see us right now. If we're lucky we can sneak inside without drawing their attention. If not... well, is your rifle corrosive?" he replied. I nodded.

"Good, that'll melt right through them."

"How many... how many loaders have you killed yet?" I asked. He seemed to know way too much about those little robot death machines.

"I don't know. A lot. They're not that terrible, fairly slow and it usually only takes a few hits to kill one. The dangerous bit is that there's usually a whole lot of them and there are a few exploding ones as well and those ones are really fast and not fun.", Mordecai explained.

"Damn. Shit, man. Let's just... get this over with, okay?" I replied.


	38. Chapter 37 or The New Guys

_song: Zayde Wølf - New Blood_

It had taken me a long time to get rid of all the Eridium that was stuck to my clothes and my body and my hair and my everything. I had wrapped myself up in a towel and the woollen blanket we used for sleeping.

At least it helped me stay a little bit warmer. As soon as the night cycle approached it got really really cold, especially out here in the Tundra and so high up in our tower. Mordecai was sending the copies of what we had found over to Sanctuary and once he came back, we would go through some stuff ourselves.

I had just made myself a nice cup of coffee and Bloodwing was hopping around happily on the floor. Mordecai had taken off without her to check on Tina as well, so at least I had some company, while I was waiting.

"Hey, little girl." I said to her quietly. She looked over at me and cawed a little, as if she was offended by me calling her a little girl.

"You wanna come up here, Blood?" I asked. She cawed and hopped over to me, looking at me strangely. After looking at me for a little while, she hopped up on the couch, next to me. I held out my hand to her and she rubbed her beak against my hand. I smiled at her and scratched her head carefully.

She cawed happily and let me pet her for a while, until she seemed to hear something and jumped down from the couch, hopping to the door, just as the door was opening. Mordecai had finally made it back. He was still covered in liquid Eridium and he looked insanely tired. He was holding a half-empty bottle of rakk ale in one hand and an ECHO recorder in the other hand, as he walked inside.

"Hey, Blood!" he exclaimed, when he saw her and bent down to pet her with a big smile on his face. Mordecai's relationship with Bloodwing was still the most adorable thing I had ever seen so far.

"You got all the stuff to Sanctuary?" I asked him, once he was done petting Bloodwing. He nodded.

"Yup. I've also got some bad news." he replied, the smile gone from his face again. He took another swig from his bottle.

"What bad news?"

"They got Roland." he said, his words sounding a little slurred. I felt a lump in my throat and felt a little sick.

"What? Who?" I replied.

"Bloodshots. Well, officially the Firehawk's got him, but we both know it's the Bloodshots." Mordecai said. I sighed with relief. This wasn't good by any means, but it wasn't the worst thing that could have happened.

"Shit, I was scared that Hyperion got him and they had burned Sanctuary to the ground just like they did with New Haven."

"Yeah, well, it's still not good."

"I know, I know. Who's taking over in Sanctuary now?" I asked.

"Well, I think, Scooter heard some Firehawk ECHO message and told the new Vault Hunters to get Roland. So hopefully, Lilith knows what's going on and will have a plan once the Vault Hunters arrive there." Mordecai explained.

"That's a lot of maybes right there. And Lilith doesn't make plans. She just wings it." I replied.

"Yeah, well, that's all we really got right now. Gotta hope for the best. I mean, without Roland we can basically forget Sanctuary. We need Roland to lead the raiders and we need the new Vault Hunters to help us. None of us, except Roland, can actually pull this off." he said.

"Why not?"

"I'm a drunk, Lilith's believed to be dead and should officially stay dead and Brick is a total maniac and not even part of the raiders anymore. None of us can properly lead a whole resistance."

"I guess you have a point. Let's see what we got from the Info Stockade. Anything on the new guys?" I asked. Mordecai nodded.

"Looks like there's six of them. The girl whose ECHOcast you found, a former Dahl soldier, another siren, a guy from Pandora, some dude who only speaks in haiku and a Psycho." he summarized. I blinked at him.

"What the fuck?"

"Yeah, well, that's mostly what I've gathered so far. And that was the short version. Who do you wanna know about first?" he asked.

"Was there anything else on the girl?"

"Well, her name is apparently Gaige and she's from Eden, but the rest I think you already know."

"Okay. What about the siren?" I asked.

"Goes by the name of Maya and is from Athenas, apparently. I'm not sure if she can phasewalk like Lilith or not, or if she can do anything else, maybe. She seems to have lived in a monastery most of her life, so that's sorta all I could gather on her. Killed one of the monks and escaped."

"Hm. Who else we got left? What about that guy from Pandora?"

"Oh, that one's weird." Mordecai said, scratching his head.

"Yeah, no shit, everyone on Pandora is weird as fuck."

"Okay, so he's Truxican, his name is Salvador and he apparently used to live in some small village. He's got a pretty big bounty on his head for Pandora." he replied and sat down next to me.

"What'd he do?"

"Uhm... there was a lot, manslaughter, theft, arson, destruction of property, trespassing, cannibalism, public indecency, profanity... that's the ones I can remember for now. He was supposed to be executed, but then Hyperion came in and tried to take the town and he basically killed them all."

"Holy shit. What town was that?" I asked.

"Ovejas. Never heard of it myself. You?"

"It kinda rings a bell, but it is far, far out. I didn't think Hyperion would actually try and take the whole damn planet. I mean, fair enough, they're interested in the Eridium and this other Vault, but still. Damn."

"Yeah. Looks like there's no need for us to worry about them. Half of them seem to be absolutely insane anyways."

"Okay, okay, the Dahl soldier next." I said, eager to get more information. It was a bit like being in a candy store as a kid and trying all the different sweets. Just with way more blood and violence this time.

"Okay, so former Dahl soldier, was supposed to be executed, but it seems like his wife or ex-wife or someone let him off the hook and got him out and then he came here, because why not? Apparently everyone ends up on Pandora lately in one way or another." Mordecai summarized.

"Hm. Who else do we have left?" I asked. Honestly, the information on those new guys was pretty sparse.

"We have the Psycho and some mysterious assassin. Honestly, there isn't much information at all on the Psycho, just some possible links to Hyperion's human experimentation, but that's really all we got on him. Same goes for the assassin. I really didn't find out much at all, except that he's apparently looking for a challenge and goes by the name of Zero. Speaks in haiku. That's all. I don't think anyone's even sure if he's human or not." Mordecai said and shrugged.

I sighed. That really didn't sound like much to work with. But at least they seemed to be able to survive on Pandora, so that was good.

"I mean, you can go and have a look at the stuff yourself, but that's all I can remember for now. There was some other stuff we got on Hyperion convoys and all, but I didn't have time to look through them yet." he said.

"Will I help you have a look at them?" I asked, hoping he'd let me in on some of that intel this time.

"No. The more you know, the more danger you are in. I can't let anything happen to you. Not again." he replied. I wanted to protest, when I heard a beep from my ECHO device. I looked up at Mordecai again.

"You wanna check that?" he asked. I nodded and slowly took the device.

 _"You think the Firehawk's got Roland, huh? Y'know, I heard the Firehawk liquefies bandits and drinks 'em like flesh smoothies. But nah, I'm sure your bandit pal Roland's just fine. Of course, if Roland hadn't been such a dumbass in the first place, he wouldn'ta - whoops! Almost spilled the secret!"_

"What is Jack on about...?" Mordecai mumbled.

"He doesn't know about Lilith, does he?" I asked, sounding more afraid than I wanted to. Mordecai shook his head.

"He shouldn't. He didn't know from what I heard last." he replied. There was some more white noise coming from my ECHO.

 _"Lemme explain something: even if you DO rescue Roland from this Firehawk guy, the Crimson Raiders ain't exactly long for this world. You know what? I think you deserve a little hint. My secret involves your pathetic resistance dying, and me laughing, heh-heh-heh! A lot."_

This made me gulp audibly. I never knew if Jack was bluffing or not and I didn't like the sounds of that message.


	39. Chapter 38 or Rescue Missions

_song: KONGOS - Come With Me Now_

"Man, I still can't believe they just went and took your house from ya and locked ya up all the way out in the dust. Hyperion's evil, man."

"Yeah, no shit, Scooter." I said, absentmindedly playing with some screws and scrap metal. Mordecai had his eye on a few Hyperion convoys that he wanted to raid, but we also had a bunch of supplies that had to get to Sanctuary, so he asked me to go and deliver them, while he was looking out for the rest of the convoys.

"But ya made it back and in one piece and when I saw that ya had made it through the Gulag AND New Haven I was like wooooooow, what a badass." Scooter kept talking. I smiled at him and shook my head.

"Thanks, but I'm really not. I was basically pissing my pants in New Haven." I replied. Scooter didn't seem to care, he just kept going, his eyes glowing as they usually did when he was excited about something.

"And then ya didn't even give yourself a break or sumthin', just went out there again and fought the bandits like such a badass up there from ya's mountain... maaaaaaan, you looked so cool, dude."

"Except I wasn't cool, because I panicked in the middle of it, which really wasn't good. I could barely take care of myself after New Haven." I protested. Not that Scooter would listen to anything I had to say anyway.

"And now you're out there, living in the tundra with Mordecai like a hot guerrilla fighter chick." he continued. I sighed. It sounded kind of glamorous, the way Scooter described it, but it really wasn't glamorous at all. Most days were just waiting around, scavenging for food and hoping Mordecai wouldn't run into some Hyperion trap when he met with his informants. The rest of it was looking after him when he was passed out drunk, cleaning up his bottles and trying not to become an addict myself. Which was easier said than done.

"I dunno what you're talking about, Scooter. We don't even have hot water in our shower. Literally nothing about being in Tundra Express is really that hot." I said. Scooter grinned at me with a knowing look on his face.

"Hmm.. I dunno 'bout that now..." he said teasingly. What the hell was he on about? Why the weird smile...?

"Oh my God. Please don't tell me you've hacked into our ECHO devices and... seen stuff." I replied and buried my head in my hands.

"Well, not on purpose."

Ugh. I knew it. Classic Scooter. He'd always 'accidentally' hack into other people's ECHOs and watch them through it. I was just about to give out to him, when I heard my ECHO beeping. It was a message from Lilith. Scooter didn't know that she was still alive, so I would have to get out.

"Give me one second, Scooter, I gotta have a look at this. Alone." I told him, getting up from the floor and walking out of his workshop, around the corner and into some quiet alley. I leaned against the wall of a house and pressed play on Lilith's ECHO message, curious as to what she wanted.

"Nova, are you in Sanctuary?"

Wait, that was all? Why was she asking if I was in Sanctuary? Technically she wasn't supposed to contact any of us at all, under any circumstances.

"Yeah, I'm there. Why are you asking?" I replied to her, debating on whether to go back into the workshop or not, while I was waiting for a reply. Scooter would get really suspicious if I was gone for too long. I didn't need to wait long for a reply, though, because just as I was about to slowly walk back I got a new message.

"Come and hang with me at HQ." Lilith said. I raised an eyebrow. Lilith? At HQ? Did she decide to take over for Roland? Did I miss something? I mean, I hadn't been following the ECHO channels too closely the last few days, because it was mostly Hyperion propaganda being thrown out there and it was really depressing. Maybe something did happen. Or maybe this was some sort of trap.

With a sigh I quickly walked back to Scooter's workshop and stuck my head inside the door. I'd go and check what was going on at HQ, but I'd be careful about it. I'd go in with my gun in my hand, at least.

"Hey, Scooter, I think I gotta go now, I just got a message from Li... uh, Lieutenant Davis, gotta meet up and stuff." I said. It wasn't even a lie. I was supposed to meet up with Davis to go through the supplies and whatnot, but Davis was on some mission at the moment, which was the reason I had to kill time.

"Oh, okay. You do your cool hot guerrilla chick stuff so. See ya 'round!" he replied and went back to work on something. I turned around and started walking towards HQ (or towards where I thought HQ was, because I still got lost in Sanctuary).

I got my gun out of the holster and put a fresh clip of ammunition in it. I really didn't want to walk into a trap completely unprepared, as I did when Hyperion came knocking on my front door. Although I kind of doubted that they would be that sneaky if they were already in the middle of Sanctuary, but better safe than sorry.

I could finally see the entrance to HQ and was somewhat proud of not getting terribly lost this time around. The door was wide open and I could hear Patricia Tannis mumbling feverishly from inside. Looked like she was fine. Nothing looked suspicious so far. I walked inside quietly, looking in every corner before I finally walked in the door. Tannis didn't even look up at me.

"She's upstairs." was all she said, before she started her mumbling again.

"Thanks." I answered and slowly walked upstairs. I held my gun up in front of me at this stage. I don't know why I was so paranoid, but I blamed it on the Friendship Gulag and maybe New Haven.

When I was finally upstairs I could see Lilith standing in our former meeting room looking at some holographic map. I quickly scanned every corner of the room before I moved on, my gun still in front of me.

"Lil?" I asked when I reached the room. She looked up and stumbled backwards when she saw me pointing a gun in her face.

"Damn it, Nova, put that thing down!" she said.

"This is not some Hyperion trap?"

"No. I'm here all on my own." she replied. I put down the gun and held out my arms to give her a hug. She hesitated for a second, but then went in for the hug.

"Hell, I missed you. And I missed some proper good food. It's actually great to be back in Sanctuary." Lilith said. I let go of her.

"Missed you, too. So what's the story? Why are you here?" I wanted to know.

"Well, the Bloodshots got Roland, you've heard that, haven't you?" she said. I nodded slowly.

"Okay. See, the thing is, Scooter apparently told the new Vault Hunters that they should go and get Roland from me, because he obviously had no clue that I was the Firehawk. Well, anyways, they found me and I told them to go and get Roland from the Bloodshot stronghold while I'd go and take over Sanctuary while Roland's gone. That's all there is to it." she continued. Okay, that was a good reason to give up her disguise. Or maybe it wasn't. I was a little biased about her coming back, because I really missed hanging out with her.

"What about Hyperion finding out?" I asked. She just shrugged.

"They would've found out sooner or later anyways. There's not much of a point in hiding any longer. Plus, the new guys seem pretty capable. If we don't have a chance of taking down Hyperion with them, we might as well give up." she answered. I took a look at the holographic map in front of her. It was an outline of the Dust with six dots scattered about the place and moving slowly.

"That them?" I asked, pointing at the holographic map. Lilith nodded.

"I'll be glad if I never have to see the dust ever again in my life, to be fair. What are the new guys like?" I continued.

"They are alright, a little weird but mostly in a good way. But they seem pretty capable and badass, I'd say. We should have a chance of taking down Jack with them on our side." Lilith answered with a slight smile on her lips. I looked at the dots again. They were moving fast now.

"Oh, they got the bandit car, great!" she said and ECHOed them.

"Now THAT looks like the car of a psycho murderer. I'm diggin' it. Get back to the Bloodshot Dam and try honkin' your way in again." she told them over the ECHO and muted the line again, so we could talk.

"What's the plan?" I asked her.

"They get in with the bandit car and then kill them all. Or something like that. Whatever happens, we need Roland back here and they'll have to get him. I can't go and get him on my own, because the risk of Hyperion getting me is too high, I wouldn't wanna send Mordecai in on his own and Brick is still with his Slabs. Plus, someone has to stay behind in Sanctuary and take care of things. We'd be seriously understaffed, if it wasn't for the new Vault Hunters." she explained. The 6 dots seemed to be at a stillstand now and when they moved again, we could see a new map that seemed to be a sketch of a building. A massive building.

"Looks like they got in." I commented. Lilith ECHOed them again.

"You're in? Great. Roland should be around here somewhere. I'm sure you can handle yourself, but if anything happens to Roland... make sure nothing happens to Roland."


	40. Chapter 39 or Superpowers

_song: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop_

Lilith sighed with relief and sat down on the couch. She looked exhausted and ready to just pass out right there and then. The Vault Hunters had managed to get Roland, but seeing it on the map and hearing them through the ECHO was a stressful experience and I could understand why she was so done with everything right now.

"Thank God, they got him." she said, her voice sounding weak.

"Yeah. That seemed like a close one." I replied.

"Hey, can you do me a favour? Can you go over to that box there and throw me chunk of Eridium?" Lilith asked. I looked at her a little confused, but did what she said. She caught the Eridium like it was nothing.

"Whatcha need Eridium for?" I wanted to know. Lilith gave me a weak smile.

"Watch this." was all she said. She put the Eridium on her bare hands and started glowing purple while the Eridium melted... but not on the floor, it seemed to melt INTO her. I just stared at her, completely taken aback by what I was seeing. What the hell was going on? Why was Lilith's skin eating up Eridium?

"Pretty cool, huh?" she said, once she had stopped glowing. The chunk of Eridium was completely gone and she looked refreshed and relaxed and full of energy. What the hell was going on?

"The fuck was that, Lilith?" I replied.

"I'm not sure, but for some reason I can absorb Eridium and it gives me insane powers. It's pretty neat, even if I sometimes only use it to stay awake and energized." she said, a big grin on her face. I raised an eyebrow.

"This might sound shocking to you, but have you considered sleeping?" I answered. Lilith laughed and shook her head.

"Why? I can go for days without sleeping if I have enough Eridium. I love it! And I only passed out a few times." she explained. Uh oh. That didn't sound good. That sounded like she was hooked on Eridium. I was about to raise some concerns when I heard my ECHO beeping. I looked down and saw it was a message from Mordecai.

" _Hyperion convoy is on it's way through Tundra Express. You up for raiding it? I could do with some support."_

"Looks like I should go and look after Mordy." I said with a sigh. Lilith nodded.

"Yeah, go ahead, Roland should be back any second anyways. But come back here at some stage, okay? I like hanging out with you." she replied.

"Definitely. I'll see you soon. And take care of yourself, okay? That Eridium stuff seems dangerous, stay safe, alright?" I said, grabbing my stuff. Lilith just nodded and waved at me, as I made my way downstairs. I started walking towards the Fast Travel station quickly. At this stage I had to use fast travel so many times, that I wasn't as terrified of it as I used to be. I still didn't like it, but I could handle it.

I quickly punched in the code for Tundra Express, took a deep breath and pressed the button to initiate fast travel. I disintegrated in a bright light and when the light was subsiding, I was standing at the Fast Travel Station in Tundra Express.

I shook off a slight shiver that always overcame me after materialising, and started walking towards Mordecai's coordinates that I had in my ECHO map, Lilith's weird Eridium thing still playing on my mind. I felt bad I had to leave so quickly, because this seemed like a bigger problem. But to be honest, the prospect of dealing with yet another addict felt like too much.

"Hey Mordy, I'm in Tundra Express, are your coordinates correct?" I echoed him, just to confirm that all I needed to do was get there without any special tactics or whatever. Better safe than sorry.

" _Yeah, you coming from the Fast Travel Station?_ " I promptly got a response.

"Yup. Got my rifle, a shotgun and a handgun, you reckon that's enough?"

" _Should do us just fine. We'll do a nice, cosy raid and then get back to the tower and have some nice drinks_." Mordecai said and I could basically hear him grinning through the ECHO. I laughed and turned my ECHO device off.

Mordecai wasn't too far from me, but the real problem was that I'd have to walk through an area that was basically infested with varkids and I hated those things. They were small and fast and if you didn't kill them before they broke out of their pods you'd get a bunch of badasses in no time. They really were the worst kind of bugs. I despised them more than spiderants and spiderants were awful.

As I came closer to said area and saw a bunch of varkids flying and crawling around happily, I sighed. I was thinking about just legging it through there and only really shooting at them when I absolutely had to, but on my own that seemed like a pretty bad idea. With a sigh I got my ECHO recorder out again and echoed Mordecai.

"Hey, can you maybe send Bloodwing over here to help me out with those damned varkids? I'm really not in the mood to spend ages killing all of them." I said.

" _Run and gun?_ " Mordecai echoed back. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, that was my plan, but not when I'm on my own with no one to jam some Insta-Health into my veins."

" _Alright, I'll send you Blood. Hurry up, though, the convoy is almost in reach at this stage._ " Mordecai replied.

"Thanks, I'll do my best." I replied and took out my handgun. Bloodwing wouldn't take long to get here and I might as well start running through this little plain until I got to the little ledge of rocks. That was probably the one place where I could lose them. I started jogging towards them, holding onto my gun tightly.

I could hear the varkids starting to scream around the same time I heard Bloodwing screeching up in the air. I held my gun up and started shooting my way through the varkids. It went well for the first half until one got me from the side. I had long bleeding cuts on my arm and my face, but I managed to kick it off and right after that Bloodwing tore it apart.

The cuts were bleeding pretty badly, but they weren't that deep. The stinging would be worse, especially with me lying around in the dirt later on, but there was really nothing I could do about it now. I hated varkids.

Thankfully I made it to the ledge pretty quickly with the help of Bloodwing and my sweet little revolver. I leapt up and grabbed onto the ledge, but I still had to pull myself up. I could feel the varkids that were trying to get my boots. One nearly managed to pull me down again, but Bloodwing took care of them pretty good. It was more difficult than I thought getting up on that ledge, especially with my slashed arm.

But I finally made it and stayed on the ground for a few seconds, breathing heavily, before Bloodwing cawed at me with a disappointed tone. And she was right. I had to get up or the varkids might manage to catch up with me. Plus, Mordecai was waiting for me to come to him quickly.

I pushed myself up from the ground, despite all of my bones hurting. I had a health vial somewhere in my backpack, but that would have to wait until I made it to wherever Mordecai was hiding. For now I couldn't see him, but I figured I'd just follow Bloodwing and the coordinates on my ECHO map and that would lead me to him.

And I was right. After climbing up some snow-covered ledges and mountains, I could see him lying behind some small rock. I got down as well and slowly crawled towards him to avoid being seen. I had no idea where the Hyperion convoy was coming from, so I didn't want to risk giving away our position.

"You okay, chica?" Mordecai asked when I approached, without looking back. He was focussing on whatever he was seeing through the scope of his rifle. Probably the approaching Hyperion convoy.

"Yeah, I just need to get a health vial into my veins, gimme a second." I said. He glanced over at me.

"They bad wounds or just scratches?" he asked.

"Just some varkid scratches, one of them got me from the side. It's not too bad, just stings like hell and bleeds a fair bit."

"It looks pretty bad alright. I probably should have told you to go a different route, the varkids are pretty nasty. Sorry 'bout that."

I had fished the health vial out of my backpack and pushed the liquid into my vein quickly. I started feeling better immediately and threw the empty needle to the side. It was pretty relieving to not have the stinging on my arm and face anymore. There was still some crusty blood, and there might be one or two small scars on my arms, but nothing too bad. I looked over to Mordecai and positioned myself next to him.

"Since when are you so worried 'bout me, huh?" I asked with a grin on my face. Mordecai laughed a little.

"I have been for quite some time, you just don't notice that people care about you." he answered. I smiled and replied with a sarcastic sounding "Cute."

"So. Where is the convoy?" I asked him. He nodded in the direction his rifle was pointed at. I looked through my own scope for a while and could see them approaching fast. It couldn't be more than half a minute until they'd be in reach.

"Are you ready to take them out?" Mordecai asked with an almost giddy smile on his face. I grinned.

"More than ready."


	41. Chapter 40 or ECHO Interruptions

_song: Arctic Monkeys - From The Ritz To The Rubble_

I woke up early in the morning from my alarm. I had set one, so I wouldn't just lie in and procrastinate about the supplies I was supposed to bring to Sanctuary. Not after I had them all practically stored away in my new fancy storage SDU. I quickly turned the alarm off and got up, picking my clothes up from the floor as I made my way into the bathroom. I had a quick, cold shower and got dressed.

Mordecai was still fast asleep. He had had his super secret meeting with Roland last night and then went through all the data discs, while getting drunk enough to finally pass out. At least he was in a good mood when he did pass out. Sometimes he'd still get angry and it was kind of scary.

I went over to the bed and quickly kissed his forehead. He mumbled something unintelligible and smiled in his sleep. I smiled back at him and turned around just to see Bloodwing peeking at me curiously.

"Hey, sweetie. You want a treat?" I whispered. She squeaked quietly and I laughed. I went over to where Mordecai kept her treats and gave her one.

"Don't tell Mordy, alright? It's our secret." I said to her before I went to get my storage deck downstairs. It was a nice morning, a little chilly, but not too bad. I put the Fast Travel station into my ECHO map, more out of habit than because I actually needed it. By now I knew the way to the most important places.

It didn't take me long to get there either and to get from there to Sanctuary. It felt like no time had passed from me getting up in Tundra Express to me materialising in Pierce Station. The place was eerily empty, usually there were a few people hanging around the station. Maybe it was because it was still quite early.

I made my way towards the Crimson Raider HQ. Lately, there had been more Crimson Raider members roaming the streets of Sanctuary. Looked like Roland got quite a good amount of people to join him. I was surprised I managed to find my way to HQ as quickly as I did, after going the wrong way only twice.

I went inside, said hello to Patricia Tannis shortly (I still found her to be a little unsettling), and walked upstairs to get to the actual HQ, where Lilith and Roland were already waiting for me. Lilith was lounging on the sofa, while Roland seemed to be busy working on something. She didn't seem happy about that.

"Hi everyone." I said. Lilith looked up from her ECHO and gave me a smile. Roland just nodded towards me and didn't acknowledge me much.

"Hey, girl. Back already?" Lilith asked.

"Yeah, but just 'cause I missed you so much." I replied and winked at her. Lilith laughed loudly and got up from the couch to hug me.

"Aww, at least someone missed me." she replied and nodded slightly in Roland's direction. I grimaced.

"Well, I'm here to leave you some supplies. We didn't get much from last night's raid, but there was a good bit of medical supplies. Where do you want me to put them?" I asked. Roland looked up from his holographic maps.

"Can you put them in the other room? Lilith will look through the stuff and see if there's anything that would be more needed elsewhere." he said. I nodded.

"Cool. Thanks, Roland. Come on, Lil, let's get this over with."

I walked into the room bordering the map room, Lilith following me. It seemed like she and Roland had been fighting or at least weren't at the best of terms. And Lilith definitely looked like she could do with a drink. Or two.

"Okay, how would you feel about going to Moxxi's and doing the whole looking through the supplies bit later? I really just wanna get rid of all the stuff and then I'm good. You look like you can do with some time away from HQ." I said quietly to her.

"Ugh, definitely. Let's get some drinks and a pizza, I'm all for it." she replied. I grinned and started getting the supplies from my storage SDU.

"How are you getting on with Mordy?" Lilith asked.

"Pretty good. I mean, half the time he's drinking, but he's not aggressive or anything. Most of the time, at least. And we're being kept kinda busy with all the convoys and stuff." I answered.

"He's still hooked on the drink?"

"Oh, yeah. He has lots of nights where he can't fall asleep and then just drinks until he passes out. It's sad, really, but there's not much I can do. He has to want to stop himself, you know?" I said, as the last box materialized and I nodded towards the stairs. Lilith and I made or way downstairs.

"Sounds pretty exhausting, if you ask me. Did you establish the nature of your relationship yet?" she asked. I shook my head. I had made my peace with not knowing at this stage, and I also didn't want to ask.

"Nova. For real? You live together. I mean, I presume you... you know. How... HOW did you not ask yet or discuss this or... whatever? How?"

"I dunno, it just didn't come up and I'm okay with the way things are at the moment, so there's not really a need for a discussion there, you know?"

"You're just fooling yourself, because I know you want an answer. We had this talk so many times and I told you how much of a dumbass you are. Do you want me to tell you again?"

"I dunno... maybe?"

"You're a dumbass."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

We walked out of HQ and Lilith took the lead in getting us to Moxxi's bar. It was kind of weird to go to Moxxi's after the whole thing with Mordecai happened and what not. Then again, her bar was the only one in Sanctuary.

"You okay with going to Moxxi's? You know... with Mordecai and all." Lilith asked, as if she had been reading my thoughts.

"Sure, yeah. I mean, she pulled a sucky move on him, but then again, can you really blame her? I mean, I get why she does what she does. Plus, I think Moxxi and Mordecai weren't going to work out anyways. She could have done it in a more sensitive way, but the damage is done. Also now I got him, so... win-win, I guess?" I replied. One thing that irked me was that Moxxi might have pushed him over the edge with his drinking, but I didn't say that. He might have turned to drinking anyways, especially after New Haven happened.

"Okay. If you say so. I don't think she's holding a grudge against you anyways. She only seems a little bitter about Mordy sometimes." Lilith said.

"Yeah, well, I kinda doubt she'll mention it to me. Moxxi isn't very confrontational that way, as far as I know." I replied and shrugged.

"True." Lilith just said.

"Enough about Mordecai, though. Have you and Roland been fighting? You look like you've been fighting. What's the story between the two of you right now? Like, are you a thing again? Or not?" I asked.

"The hell am I supposed to know?" Lilith mumbled.

"Ah. I assume, he's still a pinnacle of communication?" I answered my own question. Lilith looked at me with a bewildered look on her face and then burst out in laughter, as we entered Moxxi's bar.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." she said and turned to Moxxi who watched us with a smile on her lips and her eyebrows raised. I felt my stomach sink a little when I saw her. It did kind of sting to know she used to be with Mordecai before and that I had aided that whole thing, even though I knew better and even though I had caught feelings for him at this stage. Big time feelings.

"What can I get you two girls?" she asked in her typical flirtatious voice.

"Hey, Moxxi. Can we get two rakk ales and one of those super cheesy pizzas?" Lilith said. Moxxi smiled.

"Sure thing, sweetie." she replied and turned to get two bottles of rakk ale. Lilith looked over to me.

"Girl, I can feel you being nervous from here. Chill out." Lilith said quietly.

"I'm not nervous." I replied, blatantly lying. Lilith just nodded with an unbelieving smile and turned back to Moxxi who had brought out the drinks.

"Nova, sugar, are you looking for some odd jobs to do at the moment?" Moxxi asked me with a sickeningly sweet smile.

"Uh... I guess, yeah. Always looking for work. It depends what kinda job it is, though." I answered. She nodded.

"I might let you know over the ECHO one of these days. I need something done, I'm just not sure how to go about it yet, but I'll echo you, if I got something." she said and gave me a smile. I nodded and forced myself to smile at her.

"Cool, thanks, Moxxi. Talk to you later." I replied and followed Lilith to one of the booths. We sat down and I took a big sip of rakk ale.

"Didn't know you were doing jobs for Moxxi." Lilith said. I shrugged.

"From time to time. Been doing them for ages now, they're just the odd explosives job, sometimes killing someone, you know. The usual." I replied.

"Huh." was all Lilith said. I sat up straight and leaned forward a bit.

"Now. Tell me everything that happened since you came back. Every detail."


	42. Chapter 41 or Delivery Girl

_song: Arctic Monkeys - From The Ritz To The Rubble_

I woke up early in the morning from my alarm. I had set one, so I wouldn't just lie in and procrastinate about the supplies I was supposed to bring to Sanctuary. Not after I had them all practically stored away in my new fancy storage SDU. I quickly turned the alarm off and got up, picking my clothes up from the floor as I made my way into the bathroom. I had a quick, cold shower and got dressed.

Mordecai was still fast asleep. He had had his super secret meeting with Roland last night and then went through all the data discs, while getting drunk enough to finally pass out. At least he was in a good mood when he did pass out. Sometimes he'd still get angry and it was kind of scary.

I went over to the bed and quickly kissed his forehead. He mumbled something unintelligible and smiled in his sleep. I smiled back at him and turned around just to see Bloodwing peeking at me curiously.

"Hey, sweetie. You want a treat?" I whispered. She squeaked quietly and I laughed. I went over to where Mordecai kept her treats and gave her one.

"Don't tell Mordy, alright? It's our secret." I said to her before I went to get my storage deck downstairs. It was a nice morning, a little chilly, but not too bad. I put the Fast Travel station into my ECHO map, more out of habit than because I actually needed it. By now I knew the way to the most important places.

It didn't take me long to get there either and to get from there to Sanctuary. It felt like no time had passed from me getting up in Tundra Express to me materialising in Pierce Station. The place was eerily empty, usually there were a few people hanging around the station. Maybe it was because it was still quite early.

I made my way towards the Crimson Raider HQ. Lately, there had been more Crimson Raider members roaming the streets of Sanctuary. Looked like Roland got quite a good amount of people to join him. I was surprised I managed to find my way to HQ as quickly as I did, after going the wrong way only twice.

I went inside, said hello to Patricia Tannis shortly (I still found her to be a little unsettling), and walked upstairs to get to the actual HQ, where Lilith and Roland were already waiting for me. Lilith was lounging on the sofa, while Roland seemed to be busy working on something. She didn't seem happy about that.

"Hi everyone." I said. Lilith looked up from her ECHO and gave me a smile. Roland just nodded towards me and didn't acknowledge me much.

"Hey, girl. Back already?" Lilith asked.

"Yeah, but just 'cause I missed you so much." I replied and winked at her. Lilith laughed loudly and got up from the couch to hug me.

"Aww, at least someone missed me." she replied and nodded slightly in Roland's direction. I grimaced.

"Well, I'm here to leave you some supplies. We didn't get much from last night's raid, but there was a good bit of medical supplies. Where do you want me to put them?" I asked. Roland looked up from his holographic maps.

"Can you put them in the other room? Lilith will look through the stuff and see if there's anything that would be more needed elsewhere." he said. I nodded.

"Cool. Thanks, Roland. Come on, Lil, let's get this over with."

I walked into the room bordering the map room, Lilith following me. It seemed like she and Roland had been fighting or at least weren't at the best of terms. And Lilith definitely looked like she could do with a drink. Or two.

"Okay, how would you feel about going to Moxxi's and doing the whole looking through the supplies bit later? I really just wanna get rid of all the stuff and then I'm good. You look like you can do with some time away from HQ." I said quietly to her.

"Ugh, definitely. Let's get some drinks and a pizza, I'm all for it." she replied. I grinned and started getting the supplies from my storage SDU.

"How are you getting on with Mordy?" Lilith asked.

"Pretty good. I mean, half the time he's drinking, but he's not aggressive or anything. Most of the time, at least. And we're being kept kinda busy with all the convoys and stuff." I answered.

"He's still hooked on the drink?"

"Oh, yeah. He has lots of nights where he can't fall asleep and then just drinks until he passes out. It's sad, really, but there's not much I can do. He has to want to stop himself, you know?" I said, as the last box materialized and I nodded towards the stairs. Lilith and I made or way downstairs.

"Sounds pretty exhausting, if you ask me. Did you establish the nature of your relationship yet?" she asked. I shook my head. I had made my peace with not knowing at this stage, and I also didn't want to ask.

"Nova. For real? You live together. I mean, I presume you... you know. How... HOW did you not ask yet or discuss this or... whatever? How?"

"I dunno, it just didn't come up and I'm okay with the way things are at the moment, so there's not really a need for a discussion there, you know?"

"You're just fooling yourself, because I know you want an answer. We had this talk so many times and I told you how much of a dumbass you are. Do you want me to tell you again?"

"I dunno... maybe?"

"You're a dumbass."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

We walked out of HQ and Lilith took the lead in getting us to Moxxi's bar. It was kind of weird to go to Moxxi's after the whole thing with Mordecai happened and what not. Then again, her bar was the only one in Sanctuary.

"You okay with going to Moxxi's? You know... with Mordecai and all." Lilith asked, as if she had been reading my thoughts.

"Sure, yeah. I mean, she pulled a sucky move on him, but then again, can you really blame her? I mean, I get why she does what she does. Plus, I think Moxxi and Mordecai weren't going to work out anyways. She could have done it in a more sensitive way, but the damage is done. Also now I got him, so... win-win, I guess?" I replied. One thing that irked me was that Moxxi might have pushed him over the edge with his drinking, but I didn't say that. He might have turned to drinking anyways, especially after New Haven happened.

"Okay. If you say so. I don't think she's holding a grudge against you anyways. She only seems a little bitter about Mordy sometimes." Lilith said.

"Yeah, well, I kinda doubt she'll mention it to me. Moxxi isn't very confrontational that way, as far as I know." I replied and shrugged.

"True." Lilith just said.

"Enough about Mordecai, though. Have you and Roland been fighting? You look like you've been fighting. What's the story between the two of you right now? Like, are you a thing again? Or not?" I asked.

"The hell am I supposed to know?" Lilith mumbled.

"Ah. I assume, he's still a pinnacle of communication?" I answered my own question. Lilith looked at me with a bewildered look on her face and then burst out in laughter, as we entered Moxxi's bar.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." she said and turned to Moxxi who watched us with a smile on her lips and her eyebrows raised. I felt my stomach sink a little when I saw her. It did kind of sting to know she used to be with Mordecai before and that I had aided that whole thing, even though I knew better and even though I had caught feelings for him at this stage. Big time feelings.

"What can I get you two girls?" she asked in her typical flirtatious voice.

"Hey, Moxxi. Can we get two rakk ales and one of those super cheesy pizzas?" Lilith said. Moxxi smiled.

"Sure thing, sweetie." she replied and turned to get two bottles of rakk ale. Lilith looked over to me.

"Girl, I can feel you being nervous from here. Chill out." Lilith said quietly.

"I'm not nervous." I replied, blatantly lying. Lilith just nodded with an unbelieving smile and turned back to Moxxi who had brought out the drinks.

"Nova, sugar, are you looking for some odd jobs to do at the moment?" Moxxi asked me with a sickeningly sweet smile.

"Uh... I guess, yeah. Always looking for work. It depends what kinda job it is, though." I answered. She nodded.

"I might let you know over the ECHO one of these days. I need something done, I'm just not sure how to go about it yet, but I'll echo you, if I got something." she said and gave me a smile. I nodded and forced myself to smile at her.

"Cool, thanks, Moxxi. Talk to you later." I replied and followed Lilith to one of the booths. We sat down and I took a big sip of rakk ale.

"Didn't know you were doing jobs for Moxxi." Lilith said. I shrugged.

"From time to time. Been doing them for ages now, they're just the odd explosives job, sometimes killing someone, you know. The usual." I replied.

"Huh." was all Lilith said. I sat up straight and leaned forward a bit.

"Now. Tell me everything that happened since you came back. Every detail."


	43. Chapter 42 or Hijacking A Train

_song: Rage Against The Machine - Guerrilla Radio_

"I'm actually so jealous you get all this cheesy pizza to yourself in Sanctuary. We don't have such luxuries in Tundra Express." I mumbled. I was on my third rakk ale and it was getting to my head.

"You wanna live in danger of being blown up by Hyperion basically every single day? We can switch, no problem." Lilith answered.

"Aren't we all in danger of being blown up by Hyperion all the time?"

"Sort of, I guess, bu-"

Lilith was interrupted by her ECHO beeping. She looked at it annoyed and pressed the button to hear her message.  
 _  
_

 _"Lil? You and Nova might wanna come back to HQ, stuff's getting interesting."_ Roland's voice came from the ECHO.

"Ah, shit. Guess we better go or they'll hijack the train without us." she said and got up. I followed her up to the bar where we paid for our stuff and left.

"What train and who's hijacking it? And why?" I asked.

"Don't tell me you don't know? How can you live with Mordecai and not know about this?" Lilith replied, slightly incredulous.

"I have no idea. Mordy barely ever tells me anything about the stuff he finds out. He's all protective and shit, but I've gotten used to it." I answered.

"Man, Mordy really cares about you a lot." Lilith said.

"He's just protective, because of the Gulag and New Haven, really." I protested, but I could feel myself blushing a little. Thankfully, Lilith didn't see it as she opened the door to HQ. Tannis was downstairs, sitting in a dark corner and intently listening to some white noise from her ECHO. It was a bit eerie to see her like that.

"So what's the deal with this train?" I asked Lilith.

"There was some intel about the Vault Key being transported on a train through Tundra Express. Seemed pretty reliable information, but we didn't have any times or schedules, nothing. Apparently, Roland got a time from some informant yesterday, which was confirmed by one of the data discs you and Mordecai found in that convoy. So we sent the new guys out to do the job. I think they're getting some explosives from Tina." Lilith explained.

"Shit. That convoy seemed a little dodgy, though, to be fair. But I guess if it's confirmed by two sources..." I replied.

"Yeah. I mean, we're pretty desperate here. We gotta take our chances." she said. I plopped down on the sofa in the main room of HQ. There were eight dots on the holographic map this time, the six Vault Hunters, Mordecai and Tina.

"Hey Roland. What's going on?" Lilith asked him and took a look at the map. There was an ECHO connected to a control way back, so we could all hear what was happening. Roland didn't even look up from the map.

"They got to Tundra Express, they managed to wake up Mordecai and they got some nice bombs from Tina. They're placing them and arming them right now. Shouldn't be long until we see some action." he said.

 _"Oh snaps, son! I hear the train comin'!"_ I heard Tina's voice over the ECHO.

"Ah, there we go." Lilith commented.

 _"Counting down! Ten! Nine!"_

 _"What the..."_ I heard a heavy Truxican accent.

 _"I got bored."_ was all Tina answered. Roland and Lilith raised an eyebrow at each other and looked back at the map.

 _"Ahahaha! BURN ALL THE BABIES!"_ Tina screamed.

"Are you sure you still wanna look after Tina?", Lilith asked me. I just shrugged. Mordecai and I probably weren't doing a great job at it. It almost made me a little relieved about giving my own daughter up for adoption. I probably would have done a shit job at raising her.

 _"The bridge is coming down!"_ a female voice pointed out.

"Shit, Tina is absolutely insane, but she's an awesome kid." I commented. Roland pulled up some visual recordings just in time for us to see the train braking and then slowly falling off into the river.

"Well, that's one way to hijack a train. The Vault Key's still up on that ice shelf. Better climb that wreckage to get there." Roland said.

 _"Climb the pipe to the train, or you'll go insane. Wut-wut. That's a rap song I wrote."_ Tina babbled over the ECHO. Roland just shook his head.

"Well. That looked easy." I said.

"Might take a while for them to actually get up there." Lilith said. She looked a little uneasy for some reason.

"Well, at least the plan worked." Roland said.

"Worked a little too well, if you ask me." Lilith answered. I nodded. I was thinking the same. Wouldn't Hyperion guard something as precious as the Vault key much better? I tried getting through to Mordecai while Roland and Lilith were discussing the whole thing. I finally could get a connection.

"Hey Mordy, how are you? Everything going well?" I asked.

 _"How do you know about the whole thing?"_ he replied.

"We're following all of you over the ECHOnet. Well, your little dot just disappeared, as did Tina's. I think they're getting close to the train." I told him.

 _"Good, good. It seems too easy, doesn't it?"_ he answered.

"It does. Roland and Lilith are just arguing about it. Take care of yourself and don't get yourself killed, okay?"

 _"Don't worry. I'll be fine. I'm not with them or anything, I just gave them some support in Tundra Express."_ he answered.

"Good. I'll get back as soon as I can."

I ended the connection and focussed on the main table again. We could see some footage through someone's ECHO. They were fighting loaders on some icy plane, just where the train went off the rails.

"Search the train cars. They're probably keeping the Vault Key in the most fortified one." Roland told them. There was some sudden movement from the middle of the train. It looked like something was throwing actual train cars. Was that...?

"Oh fuck." I whispered as I saw a fortified train car revealing Wilhelm. I hadn't actually seen Wilhelm in New Haven, but I've heard the stories about him and he looked scary. This was really, really bad.

"It's a trap! The Vault Key's not on the train, abort the mission, soldier! I'm sorry, but you can't handle Wilhelm, trust me!" Roland shouted at them through the ECHO. He sounded more panicked than I ever heard him.

"Kid, Wilhelm nearly killed us all in New Haven without taking a scratch - if things get bad, just run!" Lilith added. They seemed visibly distressed. I just kept looking at the transmission, hoping and praying that Mordecai really wasn't in the middle of all this. No one said anything while we watched them fighting Wilhelm.

For some weird reason they didn't run away at all, even when some of them went down temporarily. Eventually, Wilhelm collapsed. It seemed pretty sudden that he died, but it was probably due to the long fight the Vault Hunters put up against him. I had my things packed and ready, so I could get back to Mordecai immediately after this was over. This whole mission was insane from the start.

"You killed Wilhelm? Holy hell. Jack doesn't stand a chance." Roland said, sighing with relief, after the fight was definitely over. Lilith just hugged him tight for ages while I was holding onto my ECHO for dear life, hoping to hear from Mordecai soon.

After a while of searching the rubble, one of the Vault Hunters picked up something big and massive. Looked like a power core. Like some sort of new prototype super strong power core. Maybe Roland could use that to power Sanctuary's shields. From what I heard they were almost through with their latest power core.

"Woah, never seen a power core like that. The one you got from Reiss has nearly burnt out - why don't you bring it back here? We may not have found the Vault Key, but at least Sanctuary will be safe a little longer thanks to you." Roland said over the ECHO. It was weird. All of it was really weird.

That we had found a power core just there when we needed it, in a trap laid out by Hyperion. I thought about voicing some concerns, but didn't in the end. Roland and Lilith were smart enough. They knew what they were doing. If they suspected this might be another trap, they wouldn't let them bring back the power core.

 _"Wow. Bravo. Champagne. Cheers. High-five. Slow clap. You got the damn power core, didn't ya? You've been warned. The kid gloves are coming off. Tighten up the big-boy pants, because things are gonna get really, really bad for you Vault Hunters."_ I heard Jack's voice over the ECHOnet.

 _"Sorry about the bad intel, everybody. I really thought the Vault Key would be on that train. I'll make it up to you all later - next time I'm in Sanctuary, the beers are on me. Whatcha think, Bloodwing?"_ I heard Mordecai's hoarse voice over the ECHO, followed by Bloodwing screeching loudly.

"Fuck. Thank God, they're alive!" I muttered and finally managed to breathe properly again, after holding my breath several times today. I was hell-bent on getting back to Tundra Express before I had heard of him, but now I felt that I needed a drink before getting back there.


	44. Chapter 43 or Fly Me To The Moon

_song: The Pretty Reckless - Why'd You Bring A Shotgun To The Party_

"I assume you're gonna stay here to have a look at that weird new power core?" Lilith asked, a big smile on her face.

"Yup. And also for another beer, because this was way too stressful." I replied. Just as I was getting up to walk over to Moxxi's bar, I heard a lot of commotion from downstairs. I gave Lilith a confused look.

"Ah, they must be back already." Roland remarked. I was confused for a while until I remembered who he meant - the new Vault Hunters. I had never actually met them before, so this was exciting for me.

The first guy to come upstairs was a small and bulky guy with a blue mohawk. Right after him came a tall woman with short blue hair and the typical siren tattoos - Maya. The next one to follow was a young girl with bright red hair and two pigtails - probably Gaige, the one with the ECHO channel. Shortly behind them was the psycho, then the one that used to be a Dahl soldier and last, but not least, Zero, recognizable by his suit and helmet and just the general weirdness about him.

"We brought the power core." the soldier said and gave everyone a beaming smile.

"It looks kinda weird, but might be some experimental Hyperion tech, who knows." Gaige commented. I got up from the couch.

"Do you mind if I have a look at it?" I asked her. She looked over at me, then to Roland, who nodded quickly, then back to me.

"Uh, sure. I'm Gaige, by the way." she replied and came over to me, showing me the power core.

"I know, I'm following your channel. You're one badass lady, cutting off your arm like that. I would have pissed my pants." I told her as I had a look at the core. It did look weird. It unmistakably was made to be a power core or at least to closely resemble one. It looked like that thing had a shit ton of power as well. If that was an actual real power core, it would be amazing. Something about it still irked me, but I couldn't really put my finger on it. Probably just a general too good to be true feeling.

"You're following me? That's awesome! Are you from Pandora?" Gaige asked me. I shook my head.

"Nah, I'm from Aquator. Came to Pandora under some... unfortunate circumstances, I suppose. Never had enough cash to make it off Pandora. So I'm stuck in Tundra Express with Mordecai, I guess." I replied with a little smile.

"Oh, I feel you, sister. That place seems kinda depre-"

"We don't have much time until the other power core runs out, you can talk later. Now it's important you bring that thing to Lt. Davis, so we can change the core." Roland interrupted. I handed the core back to Gaige.

"We'll be back in a few minutes." the soldier (Axton?) said and motioned everyone to move out. They were an odd group alright, but it seemed like they worked well together.

"Almost makes you feel nostalgic, doesn't it?" Lilith asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, sort of. Makes me feel kinda old. Then again, I am old, so no surprises there. But it's weird, I think, Gaige is as old as my daughter should be. Kinda makes you wonder." I replied.

"Wait a second. You have a daughter? What?"

"Did I not tell you? I had a child when I was 16. Was more or less pressured into giving her up for adoption. I've never seen her since."

"That's sad. You ever tried finding her?" Lilith wanted to know. I shook my head.

"All I have is a name. First name and last name of the person who adopted her. That's literally all I know. There is no way I'd be able to find her." I replied.

"Girl, we have a shit ton of data from Hyperion. We might get lucky one day, you never know. If you tell me her name, I'll look out if I come across the name at some stage." Lilith offered.

"Anouk. And the family that adopted here had the last name Orlov. I think it should be Anouk Orlova then." I said. I hadn't thought about trying to find her more often lately anyways. The thing was that I was getting old and chances were I wouldn't be in a position to have another child anytime soon.

"I'll have a look for you, okay? You'll have to tell me more the next time we hang out. Can't believe you never mentioned it." Lilith said.

"Sure thing. Thanks, Lil." I answered, while staring off into the distance, until I heard the crackling of the ECHO.

 _"Hey, you know, I think it's finally time to tell you that little secret. Angel's working for me."_ Jack's voice came from the control speakers. I looked at Lilith, who seemed to be very disturbed by that.

"Who is Angel?" I asked.

 _"Lowering Sanctuary's shields, Jack. Executing phase shift."_ a young female voice said. My eyes widened in shock.

"Fuck." Lilith muttered. I couldn't even define what emotion was on her face, it was like a mix of everything. Then things just happened really, really fast.

 _"That's not a power core! Raiders, the shields are down, the shields-"_ Davis screamed.

 _"Nicely done, Angel! Now... let's kill ourselves some Vault Hunters."_ Jack taunted.

"What the hell?! Did something just get through the shield?" Roland shouted into the ECHO, as we could feel things shaking.

 _"Shield's down, Roland! Oh, man, somebody start getting everybody underground."_ Scooter chimed in. I just stood there, completely dumbfounded as shit started going down once again.

"Nova, go get to Scooter right now! I've got an idea and he could probably use some help!" she shouted at me. I shook myself out of my trance and legged it downstairs and outside towards Scooter's workshop.

 _"Everybody! I've got a really bad idea! Scooter, get Sanctuary in the air! Roland, get me some Eridium!"_ I heard Lilith shouting through the ECHO as I was almost hit by a mortar attack.

 _"Pretty sure we can't do that without killing, I don't know, everyone in the city. It ain't ready to fly, Lily!"_ Scooter replied, just as I turned around the corner of his workshop.

 _"You've got your orders, Scooter - MOVE!"_ Roland shouted.

"I'm here to help, Scooter. Tell me what to do, because I can't think straight right now. I said as he turned around to me. He nodded.

"Center of town, now. We need to cycle the ignition primers there. I'll get the Vault Hunters to help as well." he told me. I nodded and ran off again. The center of Sanctuary wasn't far and I was 98% sure I knew what the ignition primers looked like. As I arrived I saw some of the Vault Hunters already working on one of the primers. I went up to the next one and worked away on it.

" _Alright, I got this one - all you gotta do is hit the last switch!_ " Scooter announced once I was done with the second one. The others ran over to the last one and worked on that.

 _"Alright, we're primed! Everybody get ready!"_ Scooter said as the whole city started rumbling and moving. Things were falling off buildings, it was chaotic.

 _"Ah, you son of a...I'm pinned, soldier - I can't get the Eridium to Lilith! Get to me, quick!"_ Roland said over the ECHO. I saw two of the new guys run off towards HQ while I tried to stay standing on my feet.

 _"You only survived our train ride together because I wanted you to. Five years ago, Roland and his friends opened the Vault because Angel and I tricked them into doing it. Everything you Vault Hunters have ever done - it's all part of my plan. I'm such a rock star."_ Jack taunted again. Lilith came running towards us, followed by the two guys that had ran off to help out Roland earlier. They handed her some Eridium.

"I've never used this much. You might wanna hang onto something." she warned us as everything turned purple for a while. When things turned back to normal again, nothing much seemed to have changed, except that the new guys were gone.

"Oops." Lilith mumbled. I realized I had actually fallen to the ground and pulled myself up again, my legs and arms sore and aching.

"Sorry, kid. That was an accident. I'll see you on the other side, though, I promise. Hit it, Scooter!" Lilith said to the ECHO. She was talking to the Vault Hunters.

"Ha-ha... man, this is one of them mooooments... CATCH-A-RIIIIIIDE!" Scooter shouted as the city just started lifting into the air. I shook my head, smiling a little, because Scooter was just the same old Scooter he always had been.

 _"That's the best you got? A flying city? What could you chumps POSSIBLY have that makes you think you've got a chance against me?"_ Jack sneered. I started feeling dizzy and panicked. I felt like I was back in New Haven, no idea what was going on, expecting to die any given second, debris falling from everywhere.

 _"A Siren."_ Roland said over the ECHO. He sounded extremely exhausted. I looked over to Lilith as she started glowing dangerously purple.

"'Sup." she growled and then everything vanished in a blinding purple light. I closed my eyes and felt my head throbbing and hurting like shit. After a while, when I finally felt normal again, I opened them and stared straight into a bit of blue sky around me.

"What the fuck..." I mumbled.

"Well, that was a bumpy ride, wasn't it?" Lilith commented and gave me a tired smile. She was sweating and breathing heavily. If she called that a 'bumpy ride' I really didn't wanna know what else she had in store.


	45. Chapter 44 or The End of Us All

_song: Billie Eilish - bad guy_

"Annnnd... I'm awesome. Hey, killer. I phased the city. No big deal. Find a way back here as quick as you can."

I was sitting in HQ again, a huge cup of terrible coffee in my hand, still shivering a little, listening to Lilith talk to the Vault Hunters over the ECHOnet. After the whole Sanctuary attack went down and Lilith phased the city out of reach for Hyperion, she and Scooter had brought me back to HQ and had tried to calm me down.

I was pretty badly shaken from the whole thing and hadn't moved from the couch in like half an hour. I was starting to feel a little better from the coffee, however, even though it was absolutely awful.

" _Nova? Are you okay? Are you still in Sanctuary?_ " I suddenly heard from my ECHO. Mordecai. It took me a few seconds to register what was going on and what I had to do to answer, but I finally figured it out.

"Yeah, I'm in HQ again. I'm okay, I think. A few scratches and a massive panic attack, but that's all." I replied. I finally realized that I had forgotten to tell Mordecai I was okay, since Sanctuary was being attacked.

 _"Damn it. I was worried about you. Is everyone else okay? What happened to Sanctuary?"_ Mordecai asked. I could hear Bloodwing cawing in the background. I wondered what they were up to.

"Roland just came back from getting patched up by Zed, some debris fell on him, I think. Scooter's okay, and so is Lilith, she's just really exhausted and seems to have a bad headache from using that much Eridium all at once. Scooter got the city flying and then Lilith phased it somewhere else."

 _"Where did she phase the city?"_

"Uh... to be honest, I have no idea. I didn't really bother to check. I was trying to get rid of that panic attack, so I literally only moved from the town center to HQ and I've been sitting on the couch ever since. I'll try and get back to you soon. I think they've got some issues with the Fast Travel at the moment." I replied. I just realized that driving wouldn't be an option anymore and it annoyed me slightly.

 _"Alright. I'm gonna check out some weird Hyperion movement out here, so don't worry if I'm not back home when you get back. I'll come back in the evening."_ Mordecai answered. Hearing that, I started panicking a little.

"Please be careful, okay?"

 _"I will, chica, don't worry. Relax and come back when you feel better, 'kay?"_ he said. This made me feel a little better.

"Okay. Echo me, if anything changes." I replied.

 _"Of course."_

I ended the connection and looked up, just to see Lilith grinning at me. She sat down beside me and leaned back.

"Man, Mordy has really gotten soft with you." she commented.

"I think that's more due to the alcohol, but he did mellow out quite a bit. Still out there kicking ass, though." I replied.

"Aren't we all?"

"Yeah, I mean, you just phased a whole fucking city that was flying, I guess you can call yourself a badass."

"Oh, shut up." Lilith said and laughed. She looked up at Roland, who seemed really stressed out at the whole situation. (Who wouldn't be, to be fair?)

"Hunh. Well, we've got no plan to stop Jack, but at least the quakes from his drills aren't shaking the city anymore. Silver linings, you know?" she said to him. Roland kept shaking his head.

"I can't believe Jack was controlling the Angel all along. We almost got killed opening the Vault, just so we could bring that son of a bitch into power!" he said, punching the table. It startled me, because I had never seen Roland so angry. He was always this level-headed organized guy, it was weird to see him get agitated.

"Well, now we're almost-getting-killed just to get him out of power. Nice to know some things never change." Lilith replied and shrugged.

"Always the optimist." I remarked. We sat in silence for a little while until the ECHO device that was still hooked up to the control made some noise.

 _"Argh, this is so frustrating. Y'see, this is what I don't get about you bad guys. You know the hero's gonna win, but you just don't die quickly. Example: this one guy in New Haven, right? City's burning, people are dying left and right, yadda yadda yadda. This jackhole rushes me with a spoon. A fricking spoon! And I'm dying laughing, right? So I scoop out his stupid little eyeballs with it, and his kids are all, waaahh!, and, he can't see where he's going, he's bumping into stuff, and ah... I don't know, maybe you had to be there. The moral is: you're a total bitch."_ Jack's voice said.

"That fucker..." Lilith growled. I felt sick thinking back to watching Jack scoop this guy's eyeballs out. It wasn't funny to be there, it was terrifying. Why did this dickhead hate people on Pandora so much? He sounded practically insane.

"You okay?" Lilith asked me quietly. I sighed.

"I dunno. The eyeball incident was disgusting. Jack literally sickens me. And I'm just fucking angry. I don't really know, I don't feel okay." I answered.

"He's a complete psychopath. We've seen how he was acting on Elpis. It was a mistake not finishing him off there." Roland said.

"Oh, look, they're driving towards Overlook!" Lilith suddenly said and pointed to the holographic map.

"They must be trying to get us back onto the Fast Travel network from there, I suppose. You think Angel came up with Overlook?" Roland replied. Lilith just shrugged.

 _"You found Overlook, huh? Used to be a nice little town, until Hyperion took over. Now everybody there's got the skull-shivers thanks to Jack's mining operations. Poor bastards are too sick to leave their homes."_ Mordecai's voice came in over the ECHO. I wondered where he was right now and what that movement in Tundra Express was about.

"I sure hope they know what they're doing." Lilith said.

"They'll be fine." Roland assured her.

"I really need like a spa vacation or something when all of this is over. This is stressful and I'm not getting younger." I said.

"Oh God, yes." Lilith agreed.

"Holy shit, looks like Hyperion is attacking them massively with loaders and mortars." Roland said, looking over the map and some controls.

"Shit. Will they be okay?" Lilith replied. Roland just shrugged.

"I guess, we'll see." Roland answered. From then on we just waited in silence. There were the occasional taunts from Jack and some swearing and screaming from the Vault Hunters, until... a well-known voice came booming from the ECHO console.

 _"We're back online on the Fast Travel Network!"_ Scooter echoed enthusiastically. Roland sighed with relief.

"Thank God. Okay, what now?" Roland said.

"How do you mean, what now?" I asked.

"The city may be safe right now, but what happens if Hyperion launches another barrage? We've got no shield." he replied.

"Ah. Good point. Lemme get on the ECHO." Lilith answered and got up from the couch. She more or less dragged herself over to the console the ECHO was connected to and pressed a few buttons.

"Listen up, Hyperion! If you've got any bright ideas to blast Sanctuary out of the sky, just remember - I can phase the city anywhere I want at the drop of a hat. But, if you wanna waste another few billion dollars launching mortars at us, be my guest." she said. I raised my eyebrows. That were some confident words right there. And I was fairly sure that Lilith had little idea of what she was doing when she phased stuff. She turned around to us with a shrug and half a grin.

"Well, that's that taken care of." was all she commented. Roland and I looked at each other briefly. I shrugged. Roland looked back to Lilith.

"Well done. Was, uh... was any of that true?" he asked. Lilith grinned even more and to be honest, it was kind of scaring me. Because I knew what Lilith was like and I knew she had no clue what she was doing and she would totally do what I suspected she was doing. That was just who she was as a person.

"What? Hell no. It's a miracle I didn't phase us into a mountain." she said. I knew it. She was totally bluffing.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Lilith." I replied, in a rather indifferent voice.

"You know you love me." she said with a grin on your face.

"Yeah, you can be glad, I do, or I'd be really pissed right now." I answered her. One day, Lilith would be the death of us all.


	46. Chapter 45 or The Highlands

_song: The Last Internationale - Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Indian Blood_

It wasn't long until I found myself jogging to Pierce Station quickly. I kinda wanted to stay a little longer in Sanctuary, see the new Vault Hunters and all, but that plan was thwarted by an ECHO Mordecai had sent me.

 _"Nova, I'll ECHO you my location, please get there as soon as you can. Things went a little... wrong."_

That was the ECHO message I had gotten. Normally I wouldn't worry too much, but the way Mordecai had sounded was concerning. He sounded very anxious and panicked and very serious. This wasn't some trivial problem. If Mordecai sounded like that, he was in deep, deep shit.

His location was somewhere in the Pandoran Highlands. I hadn't been there in ages. I remembered it as a beautiful place, but Hyperion presence there was supposed to be pretty strong. Another reason why I thought Mordecai must be in really deep shit. He wouldn't ask me to come into such a Hyperion-heavy area if it wasn't important. I had no idea what could have gone wrong, though. I had no idea what he was even doing, except for the Hyperion movement he's been talking about.

I hammered the Fast Travel code into the station really quick and dematerialised. It still gave me the creeps every single time and I still felt really dizzy when I rematerialised. I checked my map again, when I got back. Mordecai was still a good bit away from me. Thankfully most Fast Travel stations had a Catch-A-Ride right next to it. I got myself a car and started driving while listening to Roland and Lilith over the ECHO.

 _"Oh, good. You're not dead."_ Roland said, presumably speaking to the new Vault Hunters.

 _"That's his way of saying, Wow, you're a badass. I'm glad you're okay."_ Lilith translated for him.

 _"Right. Sorry. We'd all be dead if it weren't for you. But we need a plan. Jack's getting closer and closer to digging up the Warrior, and we still don't know where he's got the Vault Key stashed."_ he said. Shit. If Roland didn't know what to do, that was bad. Roland always had a plan.

 _"I can help you with that."_ a shy sounding female voice said. Who the hell was that? I've never heard her voice before.

 _"You?! Dammit, we told you never to contact us again!"_ Roland replied with an angry voice. Was that the angel girl they had been talking about? Today was the first time I had actually heard of her at all.

 _"Will you please just hear me out-"_ she said, but was interrupted by Lilith.

 _"Sure, let's listen to the crazy computer that just tried to kill us. Hey, remember that time she told us the Vault was full of loot?"_

 _"It's with me! I'm charging the Vault Key!"_ she exclaimed. The connection was silent for a while and I almost drove the car into a rock.

 _"Continue."_ Roland said quietly after what seemed like an eternity.

 _"The Key naturally charges itself once every two hundred years. Jack is patient, but he's not that patient - he's been using my power to forcibly charge the Key with Eridium. If you find me, you find the Vault Key. The Vault Key is housed in my AI Control Core atop Thousand Cuts. It's protected by three impassable security first is a competitor deterrence field that will obliterate any non-Hyperion entity passing through it."_ Angel explained.

 _"Competitor deterrence field? What, like, a death wall?"_ Lilith asked.

 _"It is a field of pure thermosonic energy programmed to atomize any unauthorized personnel."_ Angel explained, as if Lilith was technologically challenged (which she was, in all fairness).

 _"So, yeah. A death wall."_ Roland answered.

 _"Beyond that lies the second hurdle: a defense bunker outfitted with the most high-tech weaponry Hyperion can afford."_ Angel continued. Oh no.

 _"That doesn't sound good."_ Roland pointed out.

 _"Past the bunker, you'll have to get through the final hurdle: a door that will only open for Handsome Jack."_ Angel said.

 _"Well that sounds even worse."_ was Lilith's response.

 _"This will be your only opportunity to steal the Vault Key and stop Jack from controlling the Warrior. I'm out of time - do what you will, but promise me this: no matter what happens, do NOT allow Lilith into my chambers."_ Angel warned. Huh. That was weird. And I knew Lilith wouldn't like that at all. I stopped the car once I got to a point from where I could only continue on foot. Looked like Mordecai was camping out on top of some hill overlooking some huge Hyperion building.

 _"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"_ Lilith protested over the ECHO. I knew she wouldn't be happy.

 _"If she was luring us into a trap, she would have made it sound a little bit possible."_ Roland replied.

 _"If we're taking that bitch down, I'm coming - trap or not."_ Lilith said. I sighed. This would be a long fight and in the end, Lilith never did what anyone told her. I was running past a little hut and straight into a nest of stalkers at that point.

"Oh, this is just great." I mumbled, getting the little handgun from the holster on my belt. I really didn't like stalkers and I knew they'd beat me up pretty bad. Why was Mordecai always camping out in the most impossible places?

 _"You gonna be okay with those stalkers, chica?"_ Mordecai asked over the ECHO. I fired a round into one of them fast enough to get him down.

"I should be okay. I'll be there soon." I answered while quickly reloading my gun, just to quickly get two more down. Only one left, but the last one looked like a pretty tough guy. He was big and hulking and seemed pretty dangerous in general.

 _"If anyone's going to shut her down, it has to be you, soldier. Head to the Hyperion Preserve - I think I know how to get past the first hurdle."_ I heard Roland say, as I was getting ready to take on the big guy. Hyperion Preserve? Wasn't that out here in the Highlands? Wait, wait, wait... was this huge Hyperion complex the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve?

I shot a few bullets into the massive stalker, but it was still up on its legs while I was reloading. That was bad. At least it didn't seem to be able to go invisible at the moment, so that was good. I could see it charging at me. I tried jumping out of its way the last second, but at that stage it had already gotten to me.

It had grabbed onto my leg and pulled me back below itself forcefully. Finally, I managed to finish loading my gun and was now in a really good position to end this fucker. I emptied the whole round in the stalker's head, which made it collapse on top of me.

 _"You sure you're okay down there?"_ Mordecai echoed. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm fine and dandy, don't you worry." I answered, breathless, because of the weight of the stalker on top of me. I started trying to drag myself out from below him, but it was more difficult (and more disgusting) than I had thought.

But I finally managed to get out and had a look at my leg. It looked worse than it was, really. He had slashed my leg pretty bad, but the cuts all weren't too deep. They were bleeding like shit, yes, and I was completely covered in stalker blood in general, but I'd survive. I might survive limping, but I would survive.

With a sigh, I got up and tried putting some weight on my leg. It hurt like shit. Of course. This was fucking fantastic. I packed up my gun and got going. Or rather limping. There was no point in wasting time just waiting around for more stalkers to turn up. Plus, Mordecai seemed to be worried about something and I didn't want him to worry about me on top of that. So I limped on, up the little mountain, dragging myself over some rocks until I got to some sort of cave-like structure.

I checked my ECHO again and it looked like Mordecai was just around the corner. I kept going, my leg seriously hurting now. I could see a makeshift bed and a little fire and finally Mordecai, who was sitting opposite a wall of rock, staring at it. It looked like he had made a little drawing on the wall.

"Hey, Mordy." I said quietly. He turned around, a worried and anxious expression on his face. I had never seen him like that before. Mordecai was usually self-confident and had this smug, shit-eating grin on his face.

"Nova." he replied and looked me up and down.

"Shit, Mordy, what happened?" I asked. He even looked somewhat pale. Something terrible was up and I could feel panic rising inside of me. It was as if my guts were tying themselves into knots.

"I should be asking you that. You're covered in blood. And that weird... gooey stuff." he answered and tried to smile at me.

"Yeah, just some stalkers. One of them only got my leg, it's not that bad, really. He just kinda fell on top of me and that's why I'm slightly disgusting." I replied, nervously tapping my foot.

"Ah, right. I should have some health vials around here somewhere. Take whatever you need." he answered.

"Thanks. But what happened? You sound incredibly nervous. You even look pale. And where is Bloodwing?" I asked. When I mentioned Bloodwing his expression crumbled and he was hiding his face behind his hands.

"Oh dear God. What happened to Bloodwing?" I asked again. He was shaking his head and taking a few deep breaths. I had never seen him that panicked before. Mordecai was cold and calm in the Underdome and in New Haven and when we took Sanctuary, but he looked like he was about to fall apart any second right now.

"They've got her. They took Bloodwing. The bastards got Bloodwing locked up in there and it's my fault!" he finally answered.


	47. Chapter 46 or Welcome To The Preserve

_song: 3 Doors Down - Kryptonite_

 _"I bet your friend Claptrap could get through that Hyperion forcefield. He's out of date, though - he'll need a software upgrade. Mordecai should have what you need. He's camped out near the Preserve - think he needs your help with something."_ Roland echoed in the silence that followed.

"I asked Roland to send me some people to help get her back. It's... oh God. We walked right into a trap back there and they grabbed Bloodwing, because she... because she was protecting me. And now she's here and they're doing God knows what to her, I... we have to get her out of the Preserve, but this place is really well-guarded." Mordecai said. He sounded like he was about to break down any second now.

"Shit, that's awful." I replied. I had no idea what else I could say. I knew how Mordecai and Bloodwing had been together since he was around 10 years old. I held out my arms and gave him a long hug.

"Roland just sent the Vault Hunters over here, so they should be arriving soon. They are good, they can get her, okay?" I said over and over while holding Mordecai. Never in my life had I seen him that vulnerable.

"Yeah, yeah. I never did anything like this without Blood and it's stressing me out." he said, when I let go. I glanced over his shoulder at the drawing.

"What's this?" I asked him and pointed at it.

"I scouted the place out a little. This is all I could find out from watching them from up here. I know that I can't go in and get her on my own, this place is massive and full of loaders and engineers on top of all the animals roaming around there." he answered. This looked really bad. I could feel myself choking up, because I got so scared about Bloodwing. She was a part of my life at this point.

"So what's your plan of action? Do you have one?"

"Well, sort of. I found a way in, possibly. I know where they should have her, but I gotta keep watching them." he replied.

"Okay, do that while I take care of this wound, until they are here." I said and sat down on a piece of rock. Mordecai nodded and returned to his vantage point to see what was going on through the scope of his rifle. I reached for Mordecai's backpack and looked for the health vials. There were about five of them left, so I rolled up my pants carefully to reveal the wound on my leg.

The wound was still bleeding a little and it stung like hell when anything touched it. I looked through the backpack again to see whether I could find some bandages and I was lucky. It wasn't the cleanest bandage, but it would have to do for now. With that ready, I jammed the health vial into my leg. The pain subsided mostly, but not fully. I then started wrapping up the wound quickly and messily. It still hurt like shit, but I hoped it would soon get better.

"Hey, over here." I suddenly heard Mordecai say. I looked over to him, but he seemed to be talking to someone else. I looked in the other direction and all the new Vault Hunters were standing there, crowding in the small place. A lot of "Hi!"s and "Hey!"s were exchanged quickly, until everything settled.

"Hey, I heard about Sanctuary, you alright? Sorry I missed the action. I saw some Hyperion movement out in Tundra Express, so Bloodwing and I checked it out. Didn't realize we were walking into a trap. Bloodwing gave me time to get away, but... the bastards grabbed her. Brought her here." he said to them and made a vague gesture to his little hand-drawn map and the general direction of the Preserve.

"Roland echoed ahead. All my data's on a chip in my bird Bloodwing's collar, including your Claptrap upgrade. But some Hyperion jackasses nabbed her and took her into the Preserve over there. I'm glad you're here - I've been scoutin' the place for the last half-hour, and it looks like at least a two-man job. If you can get inside through the shipyard, I can give you support and lead you to Bloodwing. You get my bird, you get your Claptrap upgrade." he said to them. There was some mumbling among the group, Zero looked out over the preserve, while Axton took a look at the map.

"We'll get her back, Mordy, don't worry." Gaige said enthusiastically and gave him a big smile. Maya nodded as well.

"Good. I'll provide support, just like in Tundra Express. Go ahead, I'm gonna be right here." he said, took his sniper rifle and jumped over a rocky ledge where he had a good view of the Preserve.

"I'll support as well." I said from my spot, being glad I had brought my sniper rifle along. I had finally been able to find another rifle I felt really comfortable with. It was another Vladof rifle with a hell of a lot of recoil, but it was beautiful.

"Okay. We'll head out right away." Axton said. It seemed like he was good at leading the group, after all he used to be a soldier. They all slowly went on their way and headed towards the shipyard, as I got my sniper rifle ready and joined Mordecai at his vantage point.

"You sure you're okay with your leg?" he asked.

"Of course I am. Also, I wouldn't wanna leave you or Bloodwing alone in this." I answered. He gave me a small, but sincere smile.

"Thanks. I'm glad you're here."

He looked back through his scope and opened an ECHO connection. At some stage, Mordecai had gotten really good with ECHOs and hacking them and I was amazed to see him establish a small ECHO battle station just there and then.

"Jack makes me laugh. He kidnapped Bloodwing so I'd start pissin' my pants and makin' threats that if _anything happens to my bird, I'll blah-blah-blah_ , but... Blood and I have been through a lot. I know my girl can handle herself." he said through the ECHO, sounding way more confident than I knew he was. He muted the connection and looked at me with a sigh.

"I sure hope she can handle herself in there." he muttered.

"She's a strong girl, Mordecai. I'd be surprised if she wasn't giving Hyperion trouble." I replied, trying to cheer him up.

"She is strong, but there are so many of those Hyperion assholes in the preserve and who knows what sick experiments they've been doing with her." Mordecai said, his voice sounding desperate. It hurt my soul to hear him like that. He turned the connection back on, just as the Vault Hunters were approaching the gate. Maya tried to open it, but nothing happened until there was a mechanical voice saying: " _Unauthorized access detected. Releasing loaders._ "

"Ah, crap. They're chuckin' loaders at ya? Damn - ahhh, gimme a second to think of something." Mordecai said.

"Salvador, EXP Loader behind you, watch out!" I shouted through my own ECHO, just in time. Salvador turned around and ran off backwards while shooting at the Loader with both his guns.

"Okay, I got an idea. If you cripple some of those loaders, but don't kill 'em, they'll have to open the door to send reinforcements." Mordecai said.

" _Understood._ " Zero confirmed and started shooting single parts off the loaders. Gaige screamed something I couldn't really hear and a massive floating robot materialized next to her. Was that... was that the one she'd been building for her science fair? That thing was absolutely insane! This girl was a fucking genius.

They started shooting at the Loaders, sometimes accidentally killing some, much to Mordecai's dismay. It took them quite a while until a robotic voice could be heard: _"Loaders damaged. Deploying reinforcements."_

"Heh, groovy - the door's open now. Get inside and find Bloodwing." Mordecai said with a small laugh.

"Fucking finally." I mumbled as they all ran inside through the open door and started taking out the reinforcements that were being sent. It didn't take them too long to actually kill them this time, which was good, because they started looking a bit exhausted. I was getting a little more nervous. What if they had already killed Bloodwing and this was just another trap? What if they had been torturing her and experimenting on her so much she'd be better off dead?

"Bloodwing should be in the holding cells at the other end of the facility. You find her, you'll find your Claptrap upgrade." Mordecai told them once they had finished off all the reinforcements. He seemed to be in a better mood now than before. At least, things seemed to be looking up a little now.

The Vault Hunters were making their way through some buildings and stocked up on ammo and health vials on the way. Hyperion thankfully had lots of those standing around and ready and they were definitely of a better quality than the ones you found in skag piles or in some washing machines.

After they had stocked up properly, they were finally ready to jump down into the actual Preserve. At least there were no loaders there for now. Just stalkers which was bad enough, but doable. The problem was that they were mostly weirdly mutated stalkers that had some weird abilities and were pretty tough to kill.

"Welcome to the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve. Jack says he built this place to promote science and discovery and whatever-the-hell, but it's BS. They're just using slag to experiment on every creature they can find. You gotta get Bloodwing outta there." he said in an almost ceremonial manner.

 _"Oh, hey, you're in the Preserve. I was gonna do this whole thing where I'd lure you in here and kill you, but you just - you just kinda showed up! Thanks for saving me the trouble, kiddo!"_ Jack's voice suddenly chimed in. I looked at Mordecai who seemed to be both incredibly angry and incredibly worried.

"Jack saying that is really bad." I commented. Mordecai only nodded.


	48. Chapter 47 or Finding Bloodwing

_song: The Glitch Mob - Bad Wings_

It took quite some time until the Vault Hunters had made it to the holding cells. They were already fairly exhausted. Fighting through the Wildlife Preserve was tougher than any of us had thought and we hadn't even reached Bloodwing yet.

"Bloodwing should be in one of these cells. Don't worry about the uglies in the other ones - they can't get to you. Just get to Bloodwing and you'll have what you need to upgrade Claptrap and get through that death wall." Mordecai told them through the ECHO. There was still a small hint of desperation in his voice, but in general he seemed a little calmer now that he wasn't on his own anymore.

"You think they'll manage to get through to her?" I asked. I was getting pretty pessimistic, seeing how well guarded the Preserve was and how exhausted the Vault Hunters were already. Also, Jack's comments made me really nervous, especially after we all had walked into so many traps he had laid out for us.

"They'll have to. They'll just have to. We can't leave Bloodwing alone in there." he answered. Shit. I realized that even if this was a trap, we'd have to walk in it to get Blood back. There was literally no other way.

"Yeah, true." I said and sighed.

"If Jack hurt her at all, he'll pay." Mordecai muttered under his breath.

"I'm going to get some water, do you need anything?" I asked and got ready to go and get some supplies from the little camp.

"I need a drink. We still got any rakk ale?"

"Doubt it, but I'll check." I answered and got up to get something. I had been trying to drink a lot of Mordecai's rakk ale, so he'd have a clear head for this. He either didn't notice or didn't seem to care too much.

I climbed over some rocks and back into the cave-like structure. The fire we had going was pretty low, none of us had paid attention to it at all. I threw a few twigs into the fire to keep it going a little longer. It wasn't like we had much flammable material for this fire anyways. We barely had enough food to keep us going longer than two or three days, so we'd have to make do after that.

I picked up a half-empty bottle of rakk ale and carefully looked over to Mordecai. He was focused on the Vault Hunters trying to fight their way through the Preserve. I quickly filled the rakk ale into one of my empty water bottles. I knew Mordecai would start drinking, because he was stressed and then he wouldn't stop until he passed out. As I was just finished, I heard my ECHO beeping. Some private message light was blinking. I pressed a few buttons to see the message. It was from Lilith.

 _"Hey, Nova. How is he holding up?"_ she asked. She was worried about Mordecai. When I got the message from him, she was in the same room with me and had heard how panicked he was. She knew something was up.

"It's Bloodwing. Jack's taken Bloodwing." I answered her in a hushed tone. I didn't want Mordecai to hear me talk about him.

 _"Oh, shit. How bad is it?"_

"Pretty bad. He's holding it together pretty well right now, but he had a small breakdown earlier and I'm really worried what will happen if Jack did anything to Bloodwing. I'm hiding his booze for now, so he'll have a clear head." I explained.

 _"Fuck. This is fucked up. I really hope Blood is okay."_ Lilith answered and sighed.

"I do, too. Talk to you later, looks like there's something going on right now." I replied and ended the connection. I grabbed some water, a can of cold coffee and some biscuits and made my way back to Mordecai.

"Anything happened?" I asked him when I got back and put the food and drink down. Mordecai quickly scanned what I had brought and looked through his scope again.

"They're inside the holding cells and I can't see them anymore. I hope everything is okay and they'll have Blood soon." he answered.

"Sorry, there was no rakk ale left. That's all we got." I told him and gestured towards the coffee, water and biscuits.

 _"We got to the cell now."_ I heard Maya's voice from the ECHO.

"Did ya find her? She okay?" Mordecai replied, grasping the ECHO device tight. There was nothing from the other end for a while.

 _"There is... there is only a feather... I don't know what happened..."_ she said.

 _"Looking for Bloodwing? Oh, I moved her a few hours ago. Somewhere a little more... dramatic."_ Jack's voice came on over the ECHO.

"Oh, for fuck's sake." I muttered.

"Bloodwing ain't there? Dammit - Jack's playin' games with us. Wait a minute, wait a minute... I'm seein' some commotion in the Observation Wing. Maybe they moved her there. Just keep pushin' through the Preserve, amigo." Mordecai said, sounding more worried again. I felt like I was close to tears.

It was terrible to see Mordecai that desperate and worried, while Jack was taunting and teasing him even more. It was worse to have the possibility of Bloodwing being dead hanging over our heads all this time. And then there was this overall helplessness. There was nothing we could do - we had to play Jack's little game or Bloodwing would certainly be dead. We had to see if the Vault Hunters could manage to free her and chances for things going well in general were slim lately.

 _"Hey - you know what I just remembered? It's feeding time."_ Jack said with a happy sounding voice. Of course he had a bunch of hungry skags and stalkers at his disposal that he could throw at us. Mordecai and I tried helping take them out as good as possible, while Jack kept talking and taunting us.

 _"I had my boys build the Preserve to research the full applications of slag. See, it's not just an elemental damage type - if you know how to use it, slag has... lots of applications."_ he said. That was eerily in line with some reports on human experimentation Salvador had found throughout the Preserve.

"Shit, that sounds bad." Mordecai mumbled.

"I can't believe they're experimenting on humans like that. How fucked up do you have to be?" I replied.

"Jack's level of fucked up is definitely enough for it."

"I suppose."

"If I know Bloodwing, they're gonna have the biggest badass they can find protectin' her. Shouldn't be a problem for you, but just a heads-up." Mordecai said through the ECHO. I could hear that he sounded a little proud of his girl, but mostly desperate to finally get her back. It was about time. Waiting for so long, not knowing what was going on, was absolute torture. If we at least knew, if she was okay or not...

The Vault Hunters were entering the Observation Wing now and we lost sight of them for now. I followed their signals on the little ECHO map that showed an outline of the building. Looked like it was leading to some sort of weird looking arena. I had a really, really bad feeling about this whole situation.

It looked like the Vault Hunters were going down some sort of elevator to a lower level.I seriously had no idea where the hell they were going. Mordecai didn't seem to know either. He kept scanning the area through the scope on his rifle.

 _"We're on an elevator, this was the only way to go."_ Axton told us.

"You should be coming out of some sort of arena thing. Is that right?" I asked. I could see some movement there.

 _"Yup, that's where we are. But there is nothing else here. Just an empty arena."_ Axton replied. Mordecai and I looked at each other.

"What the hell? Are you sure?" Mordecai asked.

 _"Yeah, doesn't even look like we can get anywhere else from here..."_ Gaige answered. She sounded fairly disturbed by everything she had seen and heard here. I would have been, too, in her situation.

 _"Want Bloodwing back, huh? Shame - I've been doing some really interesting Eridium experiments with her. Hate to see her go, but heck with it."_ Jack said over the ECHO. I gulped audibly. I had no idea what we were about to see or what was about to happen, but I just knew neither Mordecai nor me would like it.

"There are some doors moving on the ground!" I pointed out, as I saw them moving slowly. Some vapor was rising from them. Everything happened incredibly slow. It was almost painful to watch it.

 _"She's all yours."_ Jack said. I could hear him grinning just from the way he said that. This man was truly evil.

The vapor was slowly clearing out and I could make out the shape of Bloodwing. Just... not. It was like a huge version of Bloodwing. And she had something different about her, almost like her posture looked like she was scared.

"Oh my God..." I heard Mordecai gasp next to me. The vapor cleared out completely and there was Bloodwing, mutated to a massive size and covered in slag.


	49. Chapter 48 or Hope Lost

_song: The Glitch Mob - Mind of A Beast_

 _"Just give it up, kiddo. Bloodwing's got ALL the elements at her disposal! Fire! Electricity! Corrosion! Slag! And... ah, damn, I forgot the last one. What the hell was that, again?"_ Jack said laughing as Mordecai and I stared at Bloodwing in absolute horror. I think we were both suspecting that something had happened to Bloodwing, but none of us were expecting this. At all.

"No, no, no, no..." Mordecai mumbled frantically.

"We have to do something, she's attacking!" I replied. I was completely unable to move or think. I just wanted the bastard who did this to poor Bloodwing punished. But Jack was hiding up in his space station.

"Goddammit! Just... just weaken her and I'll hit her with a tranq!" Mordecai shouted through the ECHO and then turned to me.

"Go, get the tranq ready for me, I'll help them out!" he said. I nodded and got up, feeling a little dizzy and sick to my stomach. I stumbled back to where all our stuff was and picked up loads of bags with shaky hands. I had no idea where Mordecai kept things like tranqs. All I knew was where he kept Bloodwing's treats.

 _"I'm sorry, soldier, but you gotta beat Bloodwing down. Do what you can to save her, but if you can't... she's got what we need to get into Control Core Angel and grab the Vault Key. That's what matters here."_ I heard Roland say over the ECHO.

"Oh, fuck off, Roland." I muttered angrily as I made my way back to Mordecai who was visibly distressed. Roland made it sound as if Bloodwing wasn't important, as if she didn't matter at all, knowing full well it would destroy Mordecai if anything... happened to her. It was like Roland just didn't care.

 _"Fire!"_ Jack exclaimed through the ECHO.

"Dear God..." Mordecai mumbled, his voice shaky as he looked at a burning Bloodwing soaring into the air.

"Here, I'm not sure where everything is, I just brought... well, everything." I said to him and sat down. My legs were shaking and I didn't trust them to actually keep supporting me at this stage. Mordecai nodded.

 _"Right, fire... what else is there?"_ Jack mused.

"Get outta the way - she's gonna divebomb!" Mordecai shouted as he watched the fight unfold. I could see how much it hurt him having to tell them to weaken Bloodwing. He flinched whenever he heard a shot. I rummaged through his bags and pouches to find the tranquilizer in the meantime, hoping everything would go alright or something. Whatever alright meant at this point.

"This is gonna be fine... just gotta tranq Bloodwing, get her back to Sanctuary, and... I dunno, maybe Zed can patch her up!" Mordecai said, sounding more desperate again like he was clinging onto every last bit of hope. I didn't blame him, I'd probably be the same if anything was to happen to... well, I wasn't sure if I even had someone that meant as much to me, as Bloodwing did to Mordecai.

"Listen to me, girl! The Vault Hunters are your friends - STOP FIGHTING 'EM!" he screamed over the ECHO. I held out the tranquilizer to him with shivering hands. I guess Mordecai meant as much to me, as Bloodwing did to Mordecai. Maybe my daughter... but I couldn't say, I had never met her.

 _"Electricity!"_ Jack announced, as Mordecai took the tranq from my hands. I felt close to tears now. I had no idea how Mordecai could even bear watching this. I was angry and sad and worried and just simply overwhelmed.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, JACK!" I screamed. Not at anyone in particular, just out into the sky, into the general direction of the moon station. I just couldn't put up with his constant teasing and taunting anymore.

 _"Electricity... slag, fire, electricity, corrosion's coming up next - what am I forgetting?"_

Of course he didn't hear anything. He might've heard some muffled noise in the background of the ECHO connection, but that was all. And even if he had heard anything, he wouldn't stop. Jack was an asshole like that.

"You're gonna regret ever dragging Bloodwing into this, Jack! You're gonna watch her tear your throat out!" Mordecai shouted at him. Now, Jack definitely heard that. I slowly grabbed my sniper rifle and looked through the scope, afraid of what I might see. Bloodwing was still there, still alive, pumped with electricity and preparing to dive down at the Vault Hunters. They looked exhausted as hell by now.

 _"Heh-heh. That's cute."_ Jack responded. I literally wanted to punch his nose into his face and felt sickened by the fact, I couldn't do it, because Jack was sitting up there in his cosy space station. I hoped he would die a painful torturous death.

"Watch the electricity!" Mordecai warned Gaige as she was standing right where Bloodwing was about to dive. She ran off quickly.

"Thanks for the heads up!" she responded, panting heavily.

"Goddammit, Jack! You better pray Bloodwing makes it outta this!" Mordecai growled. I thought I could hear Jack laughing from the other end, but I might only have imagined that. I saw Bloodwing soaring up into the air again.

"Calm down, Blood! Take it easy!" Mordecai said, panic in his voice. I reached out and held his hand for a moment, more to calm myself down a little. It helped a little, but not much. I was still panicking when Bloodwing was coming down on Zero.

"She's charged with electricity, watch out!" Mordecai shouted at him. He didn't move, but suddenly disappeared and was standing somewhere else. I would have asked questions about what the actual fuck that just was, but this was not the time. Bloodwing was flying upwards again and changed colour.

 _"Corrosion!"_ Jack exclaimed. I shook my head.

"Holy shit. This is insane. What the fuck did he do to her?" I said. Mordecai was just shaking his head angrily.

 _"Corrosion... yeah, I remember that one... Come on, what is left?"_ Jack muttered into the ECHO. He was definitely playing some sick game with us here.

"She seems to get a little weaker now. Oh God, I just hope she makes it out alive." Mordecai said quietly, voice quivering a little.

"It'll be okay, Mordy, it'll be fine." I said over and over, my voice shaking. I had a terrible feeling it wouldn't be okay.

"Can you get her now?" Axton echoed. I looked through the scope of my sniper rifle. Axton was clutching his arm, looked like he was pretty badly hurt. Maya seemed to be at the end of her strength.

"Mordy, what do you think?" I asked quietly.

"She needs to be weakened a little more... I'll send some insta health in, one second." he replied and started fiddling with the ECHO.

"Hey, I'm sendin' you supplies. Keep going just a little longer, you're almost there." he informed the Vault Hunters. I saw the health vials dematerialising. Was he digistructing them in the arena? That was pretty impressive.

"Thanks, man." Axton said, jamming one of the needles into his arm. He threw one to Maya and another one to Krieg and Salvador. The two of them looked pretty beat up and bloody, but didn't seem too tired yet.

"She is looking weaker. Don't wait too long, Mordecai." I said. He nodded and looked at me. I could see he was struggling not to break down and I just wanted to hug him and tell him everything would be okay, but the chances of things being okay were slim at most. And we had to do something right now.

"Yeah, I know. I guess it's time. I can't believe what they did to my poor girl." he replied and grabbed his rifle.

"I'm loadin' the tranq dart! Tranquila, Blood - this won't hurt, I promise!" he said through the ECHO.

"You sure you can do this?" I asked.

"I have to. She's my girl, I have to take care of her." he replied, his hands shaking and shivering as he was loading the rifle. He quickly got up and aimed and fired the shot, not even thinking twice.

It looked like Bloodwing flinched a little, slowed down and then suddenly fell from the sky on the floor in the arena. Mordecai kept looking through the scope intensely until he finally sighed with relief.

"Okay. She's still alive. Get the microchip from her collar, and we can get her back to Sanctuary." he said. I felt all the panic and worry slowly disappearing. Maybe this would have a happy ending after all. Maya approached Bloodwing slowly and carefully took off the collar. This seemed to wake her up. She stood up slowly, still looking very groggy. She looked directly at us, as if she knew Mordecai was there, but for some reason she looked sad. I had never seen her like this and it freaked me out.

 _"Oh, now I remember! EXPLOSIIIIIIVE!"_ Jack screamed through the ECHO. My stomach dropped. Just as I thought this was bad, I heard a loud bang from the Preserve and I saw Bloodwing collapse. She was bleeding profusely from her neck and... oh God. Oh God, oh God, oh God. Her head... exploded. Mordecai let out a heart-wrenching scream, as he realized what had happened.

"NOOOOOOO!"


	50. Chapter 49 or The Aftermath

_song: Rage Against The Machine - Sleep Now In The Fire_

The first few seconds after everything happened, I just felt numb and didn't really register what was happening. Only after my ears stopped ringing I realized I had been mumbling "No, no, no, no, no" over and over.

 _"THAT is why you don't screw with me. You and your little friend Mordecai turn yourselves in, or that dumbass bird is just the beginning."_ Jack said in a threatening voice over the ECHO. This was it. I was sick of listening to that asshole. I took my ECHO device and hurled it down the little hill we were camping out on. I heard it break against some rocks, but unfortunately shattering my ECHO didn't really make me feel better.

"GODDAMMIT, JACK! I'M GONNA KILL YOU! YOU HEAR ME?!" Mordecai screamed, panting heavily and trying not to break into tears. It was already too late for me. I had started sobbing uncontrollably.

 _"I'm sorry about Bloodwing, soldier, but we've gotta keep moving. Get that software upgrade to Claptrap, and we'll be able to get through the security field leading to Control Core Angel."_ Roland said over the ECHO. Was he fucking serious? Everyone knew it was important to bring down Jack, but this was just too soon.

I just started crying even more, but Mordecai didn't look sad anymore. He looked angry. Angrier than I had ever seen him. He got up from the ground, frowning upon the Wildlife Preserve and clenching his fists.

"Nova, you go and tell Roland to shut the fuck up. I'll be right back." he muttered under his breath.

"Where... where are you going? You're not... not going down there, a-are you?" I replied, still sobbing. Mordecai didn't say anything and just left. I was worried about him, but I didn't have enough energy to try and stop him from whatever he was doing. I grabbed his ECHO and decided to do something else first.

"Gaige? Can... can you get me a few... oh God... a few feathers, please? I-I-I think Mordecai would... appreciate it." I said, trying my best to keep it together.

"Sure thing. I'm sorry about... about what happened. It was awful." Gaige said, sounding genuinely upset. I remembered that her schoolmate basically exploded in front of her and that this must have been a terrible reminder for her. Shit.

"Thanks." I said and got onto Roland next.

"Roland, please just shut up for now. Mordecai isn't in a good place and it's way too soon to tell him about how much more important the mission is. He just lost Bloodwing, that's like... like losing a child." I echoed, not even waiting for a response. Whatever he had to say, I didn't want to hear it.

Once I was finished with that, I saw Mordecai coming back with some seriously antique sniper rifle. I scanned over it quickly and realized just how powerful a rifle it was. I remembered Mordecai telling me about it when he found it. He was treating it incredibly carefully, because he was so afraid of breaking it. This thing could probably kill anything, if the bullet just hit somewhere near it.

"What... whatcha doing with that?" I asked and glanced at the map. I saw the Vault Hunters moving back through the Preserve to at least get the Claptrap update to Sanctuary.

"I'm going to take out every single person I can see in here." Mordecai said, his voice sounding unusually dark.

 _"Oh, where the hell is... argh, I had a violin somewhere, I was gonna play it all sarcastically... goddammit, it was gonna be awesome. BLAKE! WHERE'S THE BLOODY VIOLIN?!"_ Jack babbled through the ECHO. I thought I had my crying under control for now, but when I heard that scumbag talking, I broke down in tears again.

 _"Whohohohoah - you didn't think you were gonna get out of here ALIVE, did ya?"_ Jack scoffed. I brought myself to look through the scope on my rifle to see what was going on, to see what the next terrible thing Jack had planned was.

 _"Intruder in range. Deploying reinforcements."_ a robot voice announced.

"Good." was all Mordecai said as he got his rifle ready. This thing was going to fire explosive rounds and any other day I would have been excited to see it. But right now I just couldn't muster up any excitement.

A bunch of moonshots were being fired from the Helios station. They slammed into the ground near the Vault Hunters, almost squishing Salvador. There was some tense quiet when the barges slowly opened and a whole bunch of badass loaders of all kinds slowly moved out of the barges. With how beaten up all of the Vault Hunters were, this was a death sentence, if it wasn't for Mordecai and his anger at the world...

"Vault Hunters... get down." he growled and it actually made me shiver. He started firing one bullet after another into the loaders who just fell and exploded one after the other. With every shot, Mordecai just seemed to get angrier.

"DIE, ASSHOLES! SCREW YOU! SCREW YOU! VETE AL DIABLO, YOU SONS OF BITCHES!" he screamed at them as he kept shooting them over and over. I doubted anyone would make it out of the Preserve alive today.

The Vault Hunters were smart enough to go and leg it as soon as they had the chance. They were probably on the way to the nearest Fast Travel station right now, while Mordecai kept shooting down loaders and Hyperion staff. The thing was, Hyperion most definitely had our position by now. And I saw a barge being fired from the space station in our general direction.

Mordecai was oblivious to anything happening around him, but I jumped up and ran back to the camp, frantically packing up all our stuff in a rush.

"Mordecai, we have to leave! They have our position!" I shouted at him. He didn't even acknowledge what I had just said.

"Mordecai, please! Please, we need to go!" I said again, running back to him, just as the moonshot hit the ground at the foot of the hill we were on. Mordecai just shook his head and kept shooting.

"I ain't done here." he replied. I realized I had tears running down my face again. For fuck's sake. I got my shotgun from my back and started shooting the loaders coming at us from down the hill. I soon realized that there were way too many for me alone to take on, as they were getting closer to our position.

"Mordecai, please... please, I can't cope if you die, too..." I begged him, still crying. An EXP Loader just started his countdown for blowing up and he was definitely going to hit both of us, if we didn't get away or get down. Mordecai didn't even seem to realize we were practically surrounded by loaders.

"Get the fuck down, Mordecai!" I shouted, as I tackled him to the ground, just before the loader exploded over our heads. That seemed to make him snap out of it and get some sort of grip on reality again. He looked a little confused as to what was going on and then started swearing and shooting the loaders all around us.

"There's too many, we have to leg it. I got all our stuff, let's go and get to the Fast Travel." I said. He just nodded and we started running down the hill where there were only a few loaders left.

 _"Alright, sweet, sweet, found it. Alright. This is a song for Mordecai's stupid bird. In E."_ Jack suddenly chimed in. Some terrible screechy violin music started playing.

"Oh, fuck this shit." I mumbled. I would've asked Mordecai to turn it off, but we were both busy running from loaders, so that was kind of out of the question.

 _"Alright, y'know what, screw you, it woulda been HILARIOUS if I'd found it earlier. Shut up!"_ he said and then went quiet. Thank God. We had finally made it to the Fast Travel station and I was never so happy to be able to use one. I quickly punched in the code and got us to Sanctuary.

"Alright, let's head to HQ." I said, right after we materialized. Mordecai just went along with it. I doubted he was in any shape to make decisions right now. It didn't take us long, until we were there and up the stairs, but Lilith and Roland didn't even notice us. They were having a conversation amongst themselves.

"Bloodwing. Damn." Lilith said, looking like she couldn't believe it.

"Yeah." was all Roland answered to that.

"Remember, ah... remember that time Mordecai got shot in the shoulder, and he just hid behind cover and threw Bloodwing out to face those bandits on his own?"

"Heh. Yeah." Roland answered again. I looked over to Mordecai and I just saw him get more and more agitated. This wasn't good.

"And Bloodwing just flew around in circles, not attacking anybody? And Mordecai was screamin' at him "what are you doin', you coward, get to killin', blah blah blah." and finally Mordecai stood up, out of cover-" Lilith said and chuckled.

"And Bloodwing went screaming down into the fray and killed all those bandits in a half second. He wanted Mordecai to see him do it. Wanted to make him proud."

"And Mordecai was happy as a skag in slag, kissin' his beak, scratchin' his neck..."

"Yeah, which woulda been cute, if Bloodwing hadn't been covered in entrails."

"Rrrghh... SHUT UP ALREADY!" Mordecai shouted at them, dropped his bags and stormed out of the place, shoving me into the door frame in the process. Roland and Lilith looked at me and Mordecai running off with an expression on their faces that only said _oh, shit_.

"I'm a bad person." Lilith stated and looked at me with a guilty expression. I could feel the tears coming back to my eyes.


	51. Chapter 50 or Lots of Tears

PSA: I suck at naming chapters. That is all.

* * *

 _song: Coldplay - The Scientist_

I looked up at Roland, who seemed to be somewhat uneasy. Deep down, I knew he didn't mean any of the insensitive stuff, but it still hurt. And it hurt Mordecai even more. He was probably on his way to Moxxi's bar or somewhere else where he could get drunk and I wasn't even mad at him.

"Uhm... I'm sorry about that... I guess. Uh... Gaige had something for you, she said. She's downstairs with Tannis." he replied and quickly turned around facing his console again. I nodded.

"Thanks, Roland." I replied, sounding more pissed than I wanted to sound, and walked back through the room with the bunk beds in it. I heard some steps behind me. Sounded like Lilith.

"Wait up!" she said. I stopped and turned around to her.

"I'm sorry about what happened. Are you okay? You're, like, covered in blood and goo and it looks like there's a nasty corrosive wound on your arm." she said. I looked down and saw what she meant. I hadn't even noticed it.

"Uh... I'm not sure I'm okay." I answered.

"Do you want me to get you to Zed?" she asked. I shook my head.

"Not about the arm. It's... I just can't... I'm never gonna see Blood again." I replied, my voice getting weaker and weaker and I started crying again. Lilith just hugged me tight, which in hindsight was probably really disgusting, since I had all that old dried blood on me and hadn't changed or washed myself for about a day, at least.

"Shit, I'm gonna miss her, too." she said as she hugged me.

"Yeah... I guess, I'll go and get that thing from Gaige and then..." I trailed off, my brain just not processing that far into the future.

"You want me to help you find Mordy?" Lilith asked.

"Yeah... yeah, that." I agreed. I started walking downstairs where Tannis was happily going through some ECHO recordings. Gaige was sitting on a chair with a weird undefined expression on her face.

"Hey, Gaige." I said to her. She looked up and gave me a nervous smile, fiddling with her robot arm nervously.

"Hi. I've got the feathers for you. Sorry about Bloodwing again." she replied and held out a few beautiful feathers. I took them and could feel the tears running down my face again. I had no idea how much I had cried today already and I didn't see it coming to an end anytime soon. Gaige looked seriously broken over this.

"It's okay. You guys did everything you could, really. Thanks. Are you okay after that fight?" I asked through the tears.

"Yeah, yeah, just... the explosion bit was quite... uh... traumatizing." Gaige replied, looking a little embarrassed. Shit. She was just a little girl. She shouldn't be seeing shit like that and feel fine after it. If any of the others were fine, that was because they were used to seeing blood and violence and gore.

Axton was a soldier, he was used to it. Zero was an assassin. Salvador grew up on Pandora. And Krieg was literally a psycho. I guess, Maya might not be used to all the violence, but I didn't know too much about her. But Gaige was just a girl that got her under really unfortunate circumstances. She shouldn't have to feel embarrassed about it taking a toll on her. This was fucked up.

"We were gonna see if we can find Mordecai. Wanna come with us?" I offered. She looked a little insecure.

"Uh... sure he wants company right now?" she replied. I shrugged.

"He might not, but he'll tell us if we piss him off. I'd rather not just leave him alone, you know?" I said. She nodded and got up from her chair.

"Cool. Let's go then, because I doubt Moxxi will give him even a single drop of alcohol. Possibly for the better." Lilith replied and walked ahead of us towards the bar. I was wondering if Moxxi would be on about that job she mentioned.

"Do you, uh... wanna clean up your face or something?" Gaige asked me quietly. I gave her a confused look until I realised that this was probably about me crying.

"I guess, yeah. Not sure if it'll help at all, but why not." I replied and took the piece of cloth she was holding in my face to try and wipe away all the tears and possibly most of the blood on my face.

"You might wanna change clothes pretty soon as well. And have a good long shower." Lilith mentioned with a wary look on her face.

"I smell like shit, don't I?" I asked. Gaige and Lilith looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Lilith sighed.

"That's a slight understatement. Just... go and check on Mordy, okay? We'll get you to a shower right after that." she said. I just nodded. We continued on our way to Moxxi's bar, but didn't get far, before Mordecai was flung out of the doors of the bar and in front of our feet. He groaned a little and then got up, turning towards the bar, cursing and swearing, slurring his words.

"Screw you, pendejos! Can a man not get his fucking rakk ale in peace? I swear, I'll fucking hunt you down and end you, hijos de putas!"

The three of us just watched him tumble backwards and straight into me. I decided that now definitely wasn't the time to give him the feathers I had. He was just straight-up angry at the moment.

"Get outta my fucking way." he muttered under his breath and walked away from us. Lilith looked pretty pissed at that.

"What the fuck, Mordy? What did you fucking do to get kicked out of Moxxi's bar?" she asked. Mordecai squinted at her.

"None of your business." he mumbled.

"Mordecai..." I said quietly, close to tears again. He turned around and gave me an annoyed huff, but seemed more open to talking.

"Didn't do anythin'. Was going to get a drink and she gets two fucking musclemen to throw me out. Says I ain't getting any drinks from her today." he mumbled. Lilith groaned and massaged her temples.

"Why exactly would you want to drink yourself into oblivion right now?" she asked. Mordecai gave her a hurt look.

"Fuck off, Lilith. Y'all know exactly why, but none of you cares. Just fuck off already." he retorted. Lilith rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Well, I tried, at least." she mumbled, before walking off. Mordecai was looking closely at me and Gaige.

"You one of the new guys, right?" he said to Gaige. She looked at me and then just nodded nervously.

"Alright, listen up. Bloodwing's dead, Jack's nearly got the Vault open... I dunno about you, but I need a drink. Or, more like a lot of drinks. The Hodunks run rakk-ale out of The Dust - blast the kegs off one of their booze runners and get 'em for me." he said, his words still slurred.

"Uh... okay." Gaige replied. I was shaking my head.

"Mordecai, you can't do that." I protested.

"I can do whatever the hell I want. And I wanna get drunk, whether you all like it or not." he replied.

"That's not what I meant. You can't just sent her off against the Hodunks on her own. Let her go and get the rest of the team. I can even go with them, once I've had a shower. But don't just let Gaige run off on her own." I said.

"Fine. But please... please get me that rakk ale. I really don't wanna be thinking about... things right now." he replied, his voice shaky again.

"I'm on my way, guys. Any distraction is welcome for me." Gaige answered and ran off to collect the other Vault Hunters.

"Let's get back to HQ. I'll tell Lilith to stay out of your way for now, okay?" I told Mordecai. He held onto my arm.

"Please stay with me." he said quietly. I blinked, surprised by him saying that. Mordecai wasn't the kind of person to be open about feelings. Unless he was angry. And he was incredibly angry right now.

"What?" I asked.

"Please stay with me. There is only one thing I want to be less than sober, and that is being alone. I can't be alone with all this crap." he repeated. I looked at him, still surprised. I felt a little sting in my chest, when he said that. It was absolutely painful for me to see Mordecai hurting like this.

I took a step towards him and wrapped my arms around his waist, pulling him into a close hug. He seemed hesitant at first, but then pulled me even closer and rested his head on my shoulder. I could feel some tears on my back and it made me cry once again.

"I'm not going to leave you alone." I whispered, slowly rubbing his back, as I felt him shaking from the tears.

"How have you not left yet?" he asked quietly, his voice breaking.

"I care about you, Mordecai. That's why."


	52. Chapter 51 or Rakkaholics

_song: Bad Company - Bad Company_

I did feel a little better after taking a shower in HQ. I had left Mordecai there and had given him the booze that I had previously stolen from him, while I was gone. Roland and Lilith had decided to stay away from HQ right now, and it was probably for the best. Mordecai was in no condition to have them around. I had put on some of Lilith's clothes for now, until mine were washed.

Gaige had been keeping me updated on the situation in the Dust over her ECHO while I was in the shower. Apparently they had just spotted the trucks with the kegs and were following them for now. There hadn't been an update in ages, though, which made me kind of worried. I kept following them on the map. Mordecai was sipping on what little remained of his rakk ale.

 _"They're after the rakkahol! Don't let 'em shoot the booze crates!"_ a rough voice suddenly said over the ECHO. I sat up from the bed and looked at the ECHO. Seemed to be from the same area.

"Gaige, everything okay? I think the Hodunks spotted you." I said.

 _"Yeah, we're good for now. They're trying to outrun us right now, but we'll get them. I think Zero is going to shoot them down."_ she echoed back.

"Good, good, good. Who's collecting them?" I asked.

 _"Salvador, he got a light runner to get them all."_

"Gaige is a good kid." Mordecai said from his spot on the couch. I nodded. I had really taken a liking to Gaige, maybe because she was the same age as my daughter would be now. If she was still alive. I hadn't been able to stop wondering what happened to little Anouk since the Vault Hunters got here and I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

 _"We got one!"_ Gaige shouted into the ECHO happily. There was some scratching and screeching and a different well-known voice was speaking. Mordecai's jaw dropped when he heard her.

 _"Mordecai plans on sucking down more rakk-ale, huh? Did the same thing after he and I split up, poor kid. Bring me the booze instead and I'll give you my prized revolver, Rubi."_ Moxxi's voice said.

"Puta maldita..." Mordecai muttered under his breath and made his way over to the bed I was sitting on with my brand new ECHO.

"Woah, woah, woah - Moxxi's giving YOU Rubi if you give her my booze?! The friggin' - that bimbo lost Rubi years ago and I found it! She wouldn't even have it if it weren't for me! No, no, no, bring ME the booze, and I'll give you one of my old sniper rifles." he said, an angry tone to his voice. He was starting to slur his words.

 _"Got another one!"_ Gaige commented, choosing to ignore Mordecai's rant, which was probably for the best.

"I can't believe it! You remember when you got Rubi with me, don' you? We spent ages tryin' to get it back for her! An' she jus' gives it away like that!" he started rambling. I wasn't sure what to say. I could see why Moxxi would try to keep the booze away from him, but this wasn't a great way to go about it.

 _"Two more!"_ Gaige announced.

"Good, good. Only six more, chica." Mordecai echoed her promptly.

 _"Aaaaand another one. Only five more to go. Why's Mordy so mad about Moxxi breaking up?"_ Gaige asked. I sighed, because I had no idea how he would react to that. It was a sore topic and he was getting drunk.

"Moxxi ever tell you who she dumped me for? Huh? Jack! I win the Underdome, I find Rubi, and bam - she drops me for the biggest fascist Pandora has ever seen!" Mordecai answered, shaking his head angrily.

 _"Oh damn. Dick move."_ Gaige commented.

 _"Hey, until he set all those people on fire, Jack seemed like a pretty nice guy! It's not my fault Mordecai was more interested in pluckin' his bird's feathers than plucking... my... dammit, I'm so angry I can't even come up with a sexy innuendo!"_ Moxxi protested. Oh no. She mentioned Bloodwing.

 _"Really, Moxxi? You're really gonna drag Blood into this?"_ Mordecai echoed, a hint of sadness in his voice. I heard a sigh from Moxxi.

 _"Oh, shit. I'm sorry, Mordecai, I forgot. This doesn't change the fact that drinking yourself to sleep again and again is gonna make things better for anyone. You're being ridiculous and you know it."_ she replied. She did seem genuinely concerned and I knew that she probably at one point had cared for him in her own way.

"Oh, just... just fuck off." Mordecai replied and went back to his spot on the couch. He seemed even sadder now.

 _"We got three more, only two left. I sure hope y'all plan to share some of that with me, after I went through all that trouble."_ Gaige answered.

"Sure, Gaige. I'd say, Mordy will be happy to have some company once you get back. He won't admit it, but he likes you lot." I replied to her.

 _"Aww, that's really sweet. We'll have a nice evening and get smashed."_ she said. I smiled and looked over at Mordy, who was staring into the distance, his almost empty bottle of rakk ale in his hand. It was close to falling out of his hand and spilling onto the floor. I went over to him and took the bottle, before it was too late.

"Hey, Mordy. Are you feeling okay?" I asked. Stupid question, I know.

"No." he answered.

"Do you need anything?"

"Kinda hungry, to be honest. Can't go to Moxxi's and get pizzas, though." he replied. I gave him a smile.

"I'll go over and get some. Will you be okay on your own? You can talk to Salvador or Zero or Gaige on the ECHO while I'm gone." I said. He nodded. I felt really bad to leave him alone right now. But there was nothing I could really tell him. Moxxi was right and she meant well, but Mordecai was too stubborn to listen to reason. I just knew it would only make things worse, if they gave her the booze. Mordecai would go and do something stupid, I was sure.

"I should be fine. Don't worry. I'm starving, though." he replied and even gave me a small smile. I knew he was trying his best.

"Alright. I'll be right back. Don't do anything stupid." I told him and grabbed some cash on the way out. Please, please, please, don't do anything stupid. As soon as I walked down the stairs all kinds of horror scenarios started playing out in my head of Mordecai heading out on his own and dying a horrible death.

 _"We got the last two, coming back in like... ten minutes."_ Gaige echoed just as I left HQ.

"Well done, Gaige. Mordecai might be a little tipsy when you come back, so better don't mention Bloodwing for now. Or Moxxi. Both sore topics." I told her.

 _"Got it."_

 _"You got 'em all! Now bring 'em to me, and I'll give you my rifle!"_ I heard Mordecai slur over the ECHOnet. Good. That meant he was still alive and probably in HQ. I was close to tears, thinking about what could go wrong if he decided to go out and do something stupid and got himself killed.

 _"No, no - bring the booze to ME instead of that alcoholic bird-lover, and I'll give you Rubi."_ Moxxi's voice came from my ECHO. I was almost at her bar and I really didn't want to go in there right now. But I had to. Mordecai was hungry, and I could eat something as well. But I knew that she knew I was with Mordy. So I could guess this wouldn't all be fun and games.

With a sigh I opened the door to the bar and walked up to the counter. Moxxi seemed very fidgety at the moment, which meant she must be very, very upset. I went up to her and she gave me an incredibly dirty look.

"What do you want?" she asked in an icy voice.

"Just need some pizzas. Can I get two Margherita and two cheesy pizzas?" I replied. She huffed and put my order on her list.

"Mordecai hungover already?" she wanted to know. Goddamn. I hated it when she got catty like that. Here goes nothing.

"Look, Moxxi, we're all just hungry. Mordecai has lost his best friend. He's had Bloodwing since his childhood. He's had a tough few days and I can't blame him for wanting to get unreasonably drunk. And I think you're giving him a really hard time about it, which isn't cool. He's just suffering a lot at the moment, and he doesn't need to be beaten down any more right now." I said. Moxxi gave me a weird look and went into the back of the bar without a comment. I sat down on a bar stool to wait for the pizzas.

I knew people at the bar were looking at me and whispering about me and honestly? It almost made me want to run out of the bar, out of Sanctuary, away from everyone and everything, and never come back. But I had to stay. For Mordecai's sake.

It didn't take long for Moxxi to come back out with my four pizzas in my hand. She had a somewhat defeated look on her face, as she put them down on the counter. I don't think I've ever seen her that upset before. Moxxi must have really cared about Mordecai and probably still did in a way. No matter how angry she seemed to be at him. It was a weird realisation for me.

"Thanks. Sorry, didn't mean to be harsh." I said, standing up from the bar stool and getting ready to leave.

"No, it's okay. It's... complicated. Tell him I'm sorry about Bloodwing, will you, sugar?" she replied. I blinked. This was a surprising change of attitude. Or maybe not. I felt like I just couldn't read Moxxi anymore, at all.

"Sure." I said.

"I'm still not going back on the booze. He shouldn't be drowning his problems in booze, and you know it as well as I do." Moxxi added. I sighed.

"I know. I know. I just don't think now is the time for an intervention. Give him some time, Moxxi."

"Maybe, yeah. You hold onto Mordecai, sugar. He's a good guy." she said. I nodded. This was a strange conversation.

"I'm trying. I don't even know what we are, but I'll make sure to lock that down... soon. When the time is right. It's just... It's complicated." I answered. Moxxi gave me a smile. Not one of her fake smiles, but an actual smile.

"I know, sugar. Don't worry. Go back and feed the poor man." she replied.

"I will. Thanks."

With that I turned around and walked back to HQ. It was weird having this sort of heart-to-heart talk with Moxxi, but it did make me feel a little better. I saw some of the Vault Hunters hanging around downstairs, so I quickly went upstairs where Mordecai was talking to Zero and Gaige, sitting on an insane amount of kegs.

"I'm a better shot when I'm drunk, anyway."


	53. Chapter 52 or Roof Drinking

_song: Neil Young - My My, Hey Hey_

Funnily enough, Mordecai hadn't really started drinking straight away and had instead decided to take a nap, while Axton, Maya and Krieg ran off to do some errands for someone. Salvador had decided to hang out at Moxxi's bar and Zero and Gaige were looking at some new offers Marcus had in store for them.

I was tired enough myself and had a short nap, but since then I was up and was waiting for everyone to get back. It was getting dark and I figured sitting on the roof of HQ and getting drunk seemed like a fairly pleasant activity, all things considered. I had been skipping through some ECHO shows for a while, when Mordecai finally woke up.

"Hey." was all he said. I looked at him with a sad smile.

"Hey. You sleep okay?" I asked. He shook his head.

"Had nightmares. She... she's still dead, isn't she?" he wanted to know, probably hoping that Bloodwing dying was just another one of his nightmares. I wished it was just a nightmare. Unfortunately it wasn't.

"Yeah." I answered. Mordecai buried his face in his hands.

"We still got those kegs?" he asked in a muffled voice.

"Yup. You wanna sit outside on the roof and get drunk? Because I'm all up for it and so is Gaige once she comes back." I answered. He looked up, a few tears glistening in his eyes. It hurt to see him like this.

"That sounds good. I'd like that." he said with a weak voice.

"Let's go, then. I got one of the kegs up on the roof already." I replied. He got up from the bed slowly and together we made our way to the balcony, so we could climb up onto the roof from there.

"You're not gonna start without me, are you?" I suddenly heard a voice from the other end of the room. I turned around and saw Gaige standing there.

"Uh... of course not. Come on up." I replied. She gave me a knowing smile and followed us quickly.

"Got anything good from Marcus?" I asked her. She shook her head.

"Zero got some fancy rifle, I think, but I didn't find anything I liked." she answered. After that we silently made our way up onto the roof and started drinking. We were probably sitting on the edge of the roof for half an hour in silence, sipping our rakk ale in silence, before anyone said anything.

"I keep expecting her to come flying through the sky and landing right next to me, demanding some treats or demanding to be pet. I can't believe my girl is gone just like that. I didn't even get to say goodbye." Mordecai burst out.

"She was such a badass bird." Gaige commented.

"I miss her. Like, I even miss her biting and scratching my hands and arms on a regular basis." I said.

"She was the best bird." Gaige agreed. Mordecai smiled a little, and this time it was an honest, genuine smile.

"She was. She was my best friend. I found her way back on Artemis, when I was younger. Was hiding away from some assholes trying to beat me up and found her all alone and almost starving, so I brought her home and raised her. She saved my life so many times since then." he said.

"I feel like shit, because we couldn't save her." Gaige admitted. I nodded.

"Yeah, same. Out of everyone, why did it have to be Blood? She looked so damn scared in that stupid Preserve, it killed me."

"Hey. I... I actually wanted to tell you earlier... don't feel bad about Bloodwing. You did everything you could. None of it was... none of that was your fault." Mordecai said. His voice sounded agitated and he kept looking down, probably because he was crying again and didn't want us to see. I rested my head on his shoulder and wrapped my arm around his waist.

"It also wasn't your fault, Mordy. I know you think it was, but it's not, okay?" I said. He shook his head.

"She was buying me time, so I could get away. That's the only reason they got her. If it wasn't for me walking into that stupid trap... if I hadn't been so ridiculously fucking stupid..." he replied and trailed off, some tears rolling down his cheek. I wiped them away quickly, but all it achieved was that I started crying as well.

"No, no, no. It was Jack's fault. You couldn't have known it was a trap. Please don't think it's your fault." I said.

"Shit. All I can think of is that she must have spent her last days in terrible, terrible pain. Those fucking bastards did slag experiments with her. It's... it's just cruel. They shouldn't get to be alive, whoever did this to her." Mordecai replied.

"I'd actually love to kill those assholes." Gaige commented. Mordecai looked at her and then turned on his ECHO, messaging the new Vault Hunters.

"Hey, amigos. The engineers working in the Hyperion Preserve are still alive. You're gonna fix that. When I was doin' recon out there I heard them experimenting on three badass creatures. Get out there and free 'em. I wanna see a bloodbath for what they did to my bird." he echoed them, his voice sounding bitter and scarily determined.

"Holy fuck, I just got goosebumps." Gaige replied, taking a big sip of rakk ale.

"Yeah, me too. You can be really scary, man." I said.

"Goddamn! I just want every single person belonging to Hyperion to die a slow and painful death. I'm going all in from now on. No more being careful, no more barely getting involved. Not after Blood." Mordecai said.

"I feel like we should do this sort of thing more often." I replied.

"Yeah." Gaige agreed and stared into the distance. She seemed really sad, and I was sure it wasn't because of Bloodwing.

"Something on your mind, chica?" Mordecai asked her.

"I... I miss home. I mean, being here is pretty neat and adventuring is amazing, but... it's just... I miss doing normal things. Like hanging out with my dad or being annoyed at my classmates or doing my ECHO casting, even though it's kind of stupid... And I sometimes just get so scared, I mean... the amount of times I almost died on this planet, all the bad things that can happen here and Hyperion on top of that? It's just... a lot." she answered, shaking her head.

"Yeah. How old are you?" I asked her. She shrugged.

"No clue, the year here works differently than back home. 17 or 18, I think, but I never did the maths." she answered.

"Fuck. You shouldn't have seen as much shit as you have seen on Pandora already, chica." Mordecai said.

"Agreed. Hell, when I stumbled into New Haven while it was being burned to the ground by Hyperion I just panicked. I had nightmares for months, I still get them sometimes. I also get panic attacks. It's normal, don't beat yourself up about it." I added. Gaige sniffed and wiped away some tears, as she laughed a little. The poor kid.

"You two ever thought of having children? Cause you're doing a pretty good job here right now." she replied and mustered up a crooked grin. Mordecai and I exchanged an awkward look and I shook my head quickly.

"Nah. I do have a daughter somewhere out there. If she's still alive. I dunno." I answered. Gaige gave me a surprised look.

"I was never settled enough for kids. Never thought about it at all." Mordecai added to that. It was a weird situation, because Mordecai and I had basically never ever talked about what the hell we were doing. And no one else had ever asked. I was wondering if everyone just assumed that we were a thing.

"I didn't know you had a kid. What happened?" Gaige asked. I sighed.

"Got pregnant with 15, got her with 16 and gave her up for adoption. My parents put pressure on me to give her away and I was young and really fucking stupid and didn't think twice about my options. I probably wouldn't have been able to properly support her anyways. All I got is her name, so that's that." I summarised.

"Damn. That sounds terrible." Gaige answered.

"Didn't Lilith offer to find some information on her?" Mordecai asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, but I don't even know if I want to know. She might not even know she's adopted. This could just turn out to be a terrible mistake." I said defensively. I really wasn't in the mood to talk about it. Mordecai sighed.

"Look, you should try and find her. I wish I had known more about Bloodwing. I thought I had time, but turns out, I didn't. I didn't even know what species she was or anything. But... I wish I had known." he said, looking sad.

"Well, if Lilith finds anything, fine. I might think about it." I replied.

"Hey, this stuff is pretty strong, isn't it?" Gaige suddenly asked.

"Yeah, why?", Mordecai responded, looking at her with a worried expression.

"Oh, nothing, just... I just... feel a little funny..." she said and fell backwards. I looked at her, frozen in place for a second.

"Oh, fuck, Gaige, you okay?", I asked and quickly moved over to her to check if she was breathing. She mumbled something and then just passed out drunk. I sighed with relief. At least she wasn't dead.

"I guess, Gaige is gonna have quite the head on her tomorrow.", I told Mordecai. He laughed a little.

"Gonna be a rough morning." he replied.

"Shit, how will we get her down from the roof?" I asked. Mordecai just shrugged, sipping on his drink.


	54. Chapter 53 or Having That Talk

_song: Protoje, Ky-Mani Marley - Rasta Love_

"You wanna do what?" Mordecai asked, sounding like he was doubting Roland's sanity. I sat beside him, playing with his dreadlocks absentmindedly.

"Brick still owes me a favour and Control Core Angel is out in Thousand Cuts. It's the best way to gain access that we have right now. We need his help." Roland repeated with a sigh. He looked utterly defeated.

"You do remember that he ripped Shep Sanders apart, don't you? In front of his family?" Mordecai replied.

"I know, I know. But Brick is our only chance right now." Roland answered.

"And how do you plan on getting him to do stuff for you? You two didn't part on the best of terms, if I remember correctly."

"He owes me. And he wants Jack gone as much as anyone else in Sanctuary." Roland said. Mordecai looked at Lilith and at me and then back to Roland.

"You sure 'bout this?" he asked. Roland nodded.

"Look, Mordy, Brick is still our friend. He'll be happy to be back I'd say. And you want to bring Jack down, don't you?" Lilith asked. Mordecai nodded.

"Hell, yeah. I wanna kill every single Hyperion asshole for what they did to Blood. They deserve a slow and painful death." he spat.

"Then Brick is just the right person for that." Lilith replied.

"You know, that actually does make a lot of sense, Mordy." I agreed. Mordecai looked like he was thinking about that.

"Fine, it's just... Brick has lost so much to Hyperion already. Wouldn't want him to lose any more by getting involved." he mumbled.

"How about you let him decide about that?", Lilith said.

"Fine." Mordecai muttered.

"Good. I'll write up a note for Brick and send the Vault Hunters out to find him and deliver the note. I kinda doubt he'd want to see me and I wouldn't like sending out either Lilith or you on your own." Roland said.

"I'll echo them to get their asses over here as soon as they can." Lilith added.

"Neat. I'm gonna go and have a drink up on the roof, so if anyone wants to join me, you can. Won't be mad if you leave me alone either." Mordecai answered to that. He often got disgruntled like that lately, and even though it was absolutely normal, it worried me a bit at times. I figured I'd crawl up there after a while and keep him company, just to make sure he didn't jump off the roof.

"Hey, guys, Roland has a mission for you, so if you wanna come over here as soon as you can, that'd be great." Lilith spoke into her ECHO and sat down next to me, where Mordecai was sitting earlier.

"How is he doing?" she asked me, once she had turned off her ECHO device. I just shrugged and sighed.

"Not sure. He seems to be a little calmer than before, but he wakes up at night and has nightmares. I think he's trying to keep it together as good as he can, so he's not a burden to the Raiders, but it's not healthy." I said.

"Shit. Are you holding up okay?"

"Sort of. I miss Bloodwing, too. And I'm worried about Mordecai. Add that to the list of things that are terrible since Hyperion has taken over."

"Hey, if you ever want a break from all this, I can probably ask Roland to get you into some Raider mission that's somewhere far out and really easy and simple. Might be a nice distraction." Lilith offered. I shrugged.

"Thanks, but I don't really think we'll have much time for breaks. Also, I don't wanna leave Mordy alone." I responded.

"Alright. But take care of yourself, yeah?" Lilith said. I nodded.

"You take care with your Eridium, Lil, okay?" I replied. She gave me a kinda weird look, like she didn't like what I said.

"Okay, I guess. I'm fine, though, it's helping with my powers." she retorted.

"Alright. I'll go up on the roof and see how Mordy's doing." I told her and went out of the room to go and climb up. It was a mild evening and the sun was just about to set which made Sanctuary look fairly peaceful. Half the time I didn't even realize that we were literally on a flying city, but whenever I thought about it, it made me a little nervous. I blamed it on some basic primal human instinct.

Mordecai was leaning against the wall of the next building, occasionally sipping his beer and looking out over the city. I was surprised he didn't hear me climb up the roof, since I wasn't great at being sneaky, at least not in Sanctuary. But then again, he might have noticed me and was just not acknowledging me at the moment. I walked over to the wall and sat down beside him.

"It's a nice evening." I commented, looking over the clouds being bathed in red and orange sunlight.

"Yeah. Nice and quiet." Mordecai answered, still looking out over the city.

"You miss her a lot, don't you?" I said, realizing that it was a stupid thing to say. This was when Mordecai finally looked at me.

" 'Course I do. Miss her every day. I just... I just keep thinking, could... could I have done anything differently? If I hadn't fallen for the Hyperion trap, would she still be alive? If I had gone in and tried getting her sooner, would that change anything? I don't know." Mordecai replied with a sigh and took another sip from his bottle.

"Hey, don't blame yourself. There was nothing you could have done. I hate seeing you feel guilty over this. Imagine how upset Blood would be if she saw you like this." I said. Mordecai sighed again and put down his bottle.

"Why do you even bother with me? After all this time and all the shit that went down?" he replied quietly.

"I told you already. I care about you. I really do, Mordecai, I'm not just saying it." I answered. He looked at me, somewhat confused.

"But... why?"

"What do you mean, why?"

"Why would you care about me? I'm just some drunk loser, really. You could've been off this damned piece of rock long ago, if you hadn't stuck around for so long. You could go and look for your daughter, start new somewhere where people live decent lives. Instead you're here watching me drink myself to an early grave." he said. I looked at him for a second, not sure if he was serious or not. He couldn't be serious, could he? He looked fairly serious and I rarely ever saw him look serious.

"What are you talking about? That's bullshit and you know it." I said.

"You could've easily left while I had that thing with Moxxi going on. You had enough cash. No idea why you stuck around while I was being a dick. And if you had left, you wouldn't have lost everything you had on Pandora. Wouldn't have been in the Gulag, wouldn't have seen New Haven and Sanctuary. Shit, why did you stay, chica?" he explained, shaking his head. Dear God. I had no idea that that was what he was thinking.

"I stayed, because... because... shit, I caught feelings for you, okay? Remember when we had sex, the whole no strings attached thing? Yeah, well, I fucked up and caught feelings, okay? So I stuck around, because I really like you, Mordecai. Shit, even now I couldn't just leave." I replied. He looked even more confused than before.

"But then... how... why... why did you introduce me to Moxxi? Why didn't you just tell me?" he asked.

"Because I'm a fucking dumbass, okay? I didn't wanna go and be annoying, when we agreed that there would be no stupid feelings. And because I'm fucking dumb, I thought it might be easier if you had someone else. Big fucking surprise, it wasn't easier. But still. We agreed, no strings attached and that's that. Sorry." I answered. Mordecai was just shaking his head, and I was pretty sure that this was the end of it.

"But... what about now?" he said quietly.

"I don't know. I mean, if you're still cool with no strings attached, it's okay with me, there's really not that much of a difference, I can deal with it..." I trailed off when he held me by the shoulder and looked into my eyes.

"No. The only reason I ever went in for that whole friends with benefits thing was, because I thought you didn't want anything tying you down to Pandora."

"Wait... does that mean you've actually had feelings all this time?" I asked. He nodded, looking a little embarrassed. Shit. This was... I didn't expect that conversation right now. Was he saying that all this time...?

"But then... why Moxxi?"

" 'Cause I'm a fucking dumbass and thought it'd be easier to get over things." he said and laughed a little. I shook my head and started laughing as well. This was so typical. We were both the worst dumbasses.

"So, what are we now? Like, girlfriend and boyfriend or what?" I asked.

"I'm almost 40, not 14, but if you wanna call it that." Mordecai replied and shrugged.

"You fucking idiot." I mumbled and gave him a long kiss. I never expected to ever have this talk with him and it went so much better than I could ever have imagined. Things were going to shit, but at least there was one thing to be relieved about.


	55. Chapter 54 or The Slab King

_song: Barns Courtney - Glitter & Gold_

"Oh. My. God. You finally had the talk?" was the first thing Lilith said when we came down from the roof and Mordecai was holding my hand. And instead of playing it cool, I actually blushed like a 14-year-old. For fuck's sake. She just had to say that in front of a room full of Vault Hunters, didn't she?

"Oh damn, really? It's about fucking time." Maya commented.

"Wait, you weren't a couple?" Salvador asked in his heavy accent. He looked utterly confused. Axton laughed quietly.

"It's called friends with benefits, Sal." Gaige explained.

"Okay, okay, can we all grow up and not act like this is big fucking news?" I asked. Lilith, Maya and Gaige looked at each other.

"No." they replied in unison.

"Oh, fuck you." I mumbled and grinned.

"Why are you all here anyways?" Mordecai wanted to know.

"Because we have something for them to do, remember? You were there when we talked about it?" Roland said.

"Oh yeah, right." Mordecai replied, but he still looked confused as hell. Roland just sighed and took the note he had been writing earlier, holding it out to the Vault Hunters. They looked at it for a while and no one moved or said anything.

"Take this note to Thousand Cuts." Roland finally said, waving the thing in front of their faces, so they would get the hint. They looked at each other and finally Zero took it and packed it away. Roland seemed to approve.

"You're going to deliver that note to a bandit leader known as the Slab King. He used to be part of the Crimson Raiders, until his methods got too brutal. I didn't think ripping Hyperion officials limb from limb in front of their loved ones was an effective way to get intel. He disagreed. Still, he owes me a favor, and he can help us get past the bunker outside Control Core Angel." he said slowly.

"So where do we go?" Gaige asked.

"Thousand Cuts." Roland repeated being oblivious to the fact that those guys hadn't been on Pandora for too long.

"Yeah, where is that?" Gaige wanted to know and rolled her eyes slightly.

"Near the Highlands. Brought it up on my ECHO map." Maya chimed in looking into her ECHO device.

"I'll be the first at the Fast Travel!" Gaige shouted and bolted downstairs.

"Oh no, you're not!" Axton replied and ran after her. Maya rolled her eyes and followed them at a normal speed with the rest of the group.

"God, they're a weird bunch." Lilith said once they had all left.

"You're one to talk, Lil." Mordecai commented. Roland just didn't acknowledge them and turned around to start following the ECHO signals of the Vault Hunters on the map. They had already gotten to the Highlands.

"Thousand Cuts is west of the Highlands - if you're looking for the Slab King, that's where he'll be. Be careful, though; he kinda... lost it after Hyperion killed his dog." he said to them. That was news to me. I didn't know it was Hyperion that killed Brick's dog, I thought he just died in New Haven.

 _"It's not far, is it? It looks super close."_ Maya's voice came through the ECHO.

"No, shouldn't take you long to get there." Roland answered her.

 _"Anything we should look out for?"_ Gaige asked.

"There should be a mountain with a massive city on it." Roland said.

"Sometimes I regret not using Fast Travel for that long. I mean, there are so many places on Pandora that look really damn cool, but I never got to see them as much as I would have liked, because it was such a trek out there." I mused. No one really listened to me, though.

"Control Core Angel is at the top of that mountain. That's where the Vault Key's being held. The Slab King is up on the other cliff. He can help us get past the bunker outside the control core. Hopefully." Roland instructed the Vault Hunters.

 _"There is something that looks like a town ahead of us now. Do we go in? And if we do, do we talk or do we shoot?"_ Maya asked.

 _"Intruder! We got an intruder!"_ I suddenly heard people screaming. Guess they didn't wait for the answer to their first question.

 _"Nevermind, we're shooting."_ Maya mumbled.

 _"Intruder, huh? Sounds like Hyperion sent another assassin! Alrights, boys: fight like badasses, or die like bitches!"_ I heard Brick's deep voice over the ECHOnet. It was pretty comforting to hear Brick talking after such a long time. And I wasn't even best buddies with Brick back when he was still in Sanctuary.

"You'll have to fight through the Slabs to reach the King - be careful." Roland said, sounding a little sheepish about not telling them a little sooner.

 _"Yeah, no shit, boss."_ Salvador commented.

 _"I tried to keep to myself, but nooo! You Hyperion bastards HAD to come after me - you just HAD to kill Dusty! You wanna treat me like a bandit, that's EXACTLY what I'm gonna be!"_ I heard Brick shouting. Honestly, I hadn't ever heard him that bitter before.

 _"Dusty was just a puppy! Almost as nice as my first dog! You let your boss know I'm gonna do to him exactly what he did to her! 'Cept slower. You-"_ he started ranting until he suddenly stopped and it sounded like there was some hushed whispering. What was going on over there?

 _"What do you MEAN they ain't from Hyperion? Ohhhh - must be a new recruit! Alright, boys, let's put 'em through the wringer!"_ he shouted then, sounding much happier than before. This felt like the most surreal experience I've had so far.

"Oh, yeah, um... The Slab King won't talk to you unless you join his gang. Just survive whatever initiation he's got planned for you, then give him that note." Roland said. Lilith, Mordecai and I simultaneously looked at him, as if he had gone crazy.

"What?" he asked.

"You mention that to them now?" Lilith replied. Roland just shrugged.

"Look, they're almost at the Buzzard Factory." Mordecai said and pointed at the map. I walked over to have a closer look at it.

"They're getting in! Man, I actually wasn't sure if they were gonna make it." Roland exclaimed. Lilith just kept shaking her head.

 _"You made it to my throne room, recruit - but now it's time for the real initiation! Slabs! RIP 'EM UUUUP!"_ Brick screamed.

"Shit, he really is bitter." I commented, as they were fighting all the bandits that Brick had gathered around himself.

 _"You idiots always wanted to fight another Vault Hunter - well, now's your chance! The recruit's makin' you look like idiots! Slabs, go get 'em!"_ Brick would occasionally scream at his men who were dying left and right.

 _"If you Slabs can't wreck some random recruit, how the hell are you gonna hurt Jack?! By cramping his trigger finger?!"_ was probably my favourite bit out of his tirades. It thankfully didn't seem to take them too long to beat all of the slabs down.

 _"You killed some of my best men to get to me. I only got one thing to say to you. That... Was... AWESOME!"_ Brick shouted happily once the fight was over.

 _"So, whatchu want? You are the biggest badass of ALL TIME! And you survived initiation - I'm proud to call you a Slab."_ he said. But it seemed like they hadn't killed everyone yet, there seemed to be some background noise and commotion and then there was Brick's deep and hearty laugh.

 _"HAHAHA. Wow. You ARE a true Slab!"_ Brick said.

 _"We got a note for you, that should explain everything."_ we could hear Maya say.

 _"Oh my God, this guy is really fucking weird."_ Gaige whispered into her ECHO.

"Quiet, Gaige. He's a good guy. Most of the time." I said to her.

 _"Heh. I was wondering when Roland'd call in that favor. So... the bunker. Now that you're one of us, my buzzards could help you take her down. Go tell Roland I'm in."_ we heard Brick say. Shortly after, Axton echoed.

 _"He's in."_

"Great job - with Brick's crew on our side, we should have an easier time getting past the bunker protecting Angel. Come on back and we'll see about getting through that door that'll only open for Jack." Roland told them.

"That door is gonna be a bitch, you do know that?" Mordecai asked.

"Yeah, but what choice do we have?" Roland answered him and shrugged.

"Fair enough. I sure hope you have a plan. And be nice to Brick this time. Doubt he'll stick around if you're gonna be all high and mighty again." he said. As we were all relaxed and thinking things would be fine, we suddenly heard the ECHO cracking and then Jack's voice announcing: _"So, the Vault Hunter met the Slabs - what a lovely opportunity to kill two bandits with one mortar assault!"_


	56. Chapter 55 or A Summary

_song: The Doors - Peace Frog_

It didn't take long for Brick to get to Sanctuary and find HQ. The Vault Hunters were apparently doing some side jobs before they were coming back here, but it took Brick only a couple of minutes to get here.

"KNOCK KNOCK BITCHES!" was the first thing he said, as he was gently (for him) punching the door frame. We all turned around to him. It was good to see a big smile on his face. He was obviously really happy to be back.

"Brick, man, it's good to see you." Mordecai said, as Brick walked towards him and almost squashed him with a hug.

"Good to see ya, too, Mordy." Brick replied and let go of him. Mordecai was holding his ribs and carefully moving, probably to make sure Brick hadn't actually broken them this time. Lilith was the next one to get the bear hug, but she actually wanted one. She ran towards Brick and more or less jumped into the hug.

"Brick, we have so much to catch up on." was all she said with a big smile, which made Brick laugh.

"I'm happy to be back, too, Lil." he answered. He looked over to me, squinting for a second and then recognizing me again.

"Nova? Didn't think I'd ever see you again. How come you didn't get a ship off this shit planet yet?" he asked. I just pointed to Mordecai.

"Oh, I see. Lemme give you a hug." he then said and proceeded to give me the tightest hug I had ever been given. It hurt. But it felt really good at the same time, so I wasn't complaining.

"Ouch. Thanks, Brick." I replied, grateful I didn't hear a bone breaking. Then he finally turned and nodded at Roland.

"Roland."

"Brick." Roland answered, looking pretty nervous and insecure. He was definitely feeling very guilty for kicking Brick out, that much was sure.

"Never thought I'd be back here. Last time we talked, you didn't sound too eager to see me again." Brick said, a little hint of accusation in his voice.

"Times changed. We need all the help we can get."

"Even from a bloodthirsty psychopath?" Brick asked. Lilith and Mordecai looked at each other, seeming pretty self-conscious.

"Who called you that? Jack?" Roland replied. I could see Lilith facepalming, but it looked like Roland didn't have an actual clue.

"Nope. You did, three years ago." Brick deadpanned. Roland looked guilty and embarrassed almost immediately.

"Oh. Uh... Sorry. It's good to have you back, Brick." he stammered. It was insanely awkward for everyone.

"Good to be back." Brick said with a huge grin on his face. Lilith giggled quietly next to me, as she watched the two talking.

"Aaaaand kiss each other." she said.

"Heh-heh, seriously." Mordecai commented and shook his head.

"So. What did I miss while I was gone?" Brick asked and sat down on the couch.

"A lot." Lilith said.

"Well, then y'all better start telling me, because I really wanna go and have one of Moxxi's pizzas. I missed them."

"Okay... well. After you... left..." Lilith started but was interrupted by Brick.

"You mean after I was kicked out."

"Yeah. After you were kicked out, Mordy went out to Tundra Express with Nova and I went to Three Horns and basically became the Firehawk, after Roland... after we..."

"Oh no. Roland, please tell me you didn't break up with Lil?" Brick said. Roland sighed and looked down.

"I did and I know it was stupid, and I shouldn't have done it." Roland answered, sounding like he repeated some mantra.

"Yeah, anyways, I spent quite some time fighting the Bloodshots and keeping them away from Sanctuary and then some psychos started this weird cult around me where they basically burnt up midgets as sacrifices and stuff." Lilith explained.

"Damn. Sounds like fun." Brick commented.

"Yeah, it was kinda a weird part of my life." she said.

"What were you up to in Tundra Express, Mordy?" Brick wanted to know.

"Hunting, raiding convoys, getting intel and drinking, basically." Mordy replied.

"And I was there, bored off my ass, raiding and delivering supplies to Sanctuary, going through ECHOcasts out of boredom, until I found one by a young girl who had apparently killed her classmate with a science fair robot and was fleeing to Pandora. Went off and reported it to Roland and we found out about a group of different Vault Hunters that actually had survived Jack's attempt to kill them once they arrived on Pandora. After that we started watching out for their ECHO signals." I continued.

"They actually managed to kill Flynt out on the Southern Shelf and then made their way to Sanctuary. Then Nova and me went off crawling through the Eridium Pipeline in the Arid Nexus to get more information on those guys." Mordecai said.

"While they were doing that, I was getting captured by the Bloodshots, someone sent the new guys after the Firehawk and then Lilith sent them after the Bloodshots to get me from them. Which they actually managed to do." Roland explained his part of the story. Listening to all of that in recap, it sounded pretty insane. I mean, how did we not all die back then?

"Right. I went back to Sanctuary while Roland was gone, because someone had to take over the Crimson Raiders. Anyways, after that Mordecai and Nova raided some convoy and got some info on the Vault Key being transported on a train through Tundra express. Obviously, we made a plan to go and hijack that train. Turns out it's a huge fucking trap and they were actually hiding Wilhelm on that train, but the new guys - badass as they are - manage to kill him and find just the power core we need to keep Sanctuary's shields up for a looooong time." Lilith told Brick. He raised an eyebrow.

"Turns out that was a trap as well. It wasn't a power core. Jack shut down our shields with it and also revealed that Angel was working for him all this time and this was all part of some grand scheme. They start attacking Sanctuary, Scooter gets the city flying and Lilith phases the whole damn place out here." Roland said.

"Fucking badass." Brick commented.

"Funnily enough, Angel actually helped us to come up with a solution on how to get to Jack and stop him." Roland added to that.

"What's the plan?" Brick asked.

"We get to Control Core Angel and shut her down. She's charging the Vault Key and without the Vault Key, Jack can't open the Vault. We need to get through a death wall for that apparently, Mordecai got us the right Claptrap update for that, and we need to open a door that of course only opens for Jack. Haven't solved that one yet." Roland admitted, as if it was all no big deal.

"Damn. That sounds like one hell of a plan. I'm in. And, shit, am I glad that you're all still alive." Brick said with a big smile on his face. The room became eerily silent. Mordecai was looking down, staring at his feet.

"Uhm... well, about that..." Lilith started.

"Bloodwing's dead." Mordecai interrupted her, his voice sounding raspy and weak.

"Oh... oh no." Brick said, walking up to him.

"It's only been a few days." Lilith explained.

"Sorry about Bloodwing, Mordy." Brick said and gave him another hug. I didn't remember Brick being the hugging type, but I honestly wasn't complaining.

"I appreciate you saying that." Mordecai answered weakly, as Brick let go of him again.

"If it makes you feel any better, Jack killed my dog a lot slower than he did Bloodwing." he added.

"... I appreciate that a little bit less." Mordecai replied, but did his best to give Brick a smile. He was trying.

"Yeah, anyways... sorry." Brick said.

"It's okay. Anyone wanna get a drink with me?" Mordecai asked.

"Hell, yeah!" Brick answered and got up.

"We're going to Moxxi's place? Like... you're going there out of your own free will, Mordy?" Lilith replied.

"Yeah, sure, why not. I know she hates me, but that's old news. It's about time I get over it or whatever. Besides, there's not really any other place that sells drinks and food." Mordecai said and made his way downstairs.

"Wow. Just a week ago you would literally refuse to set foot in Sanctuary, because Moxxi had a bar here. You're making progress, Mordy." Lilith commented.

"Shut up, before I change my mind." he replied.

"Don't worry, Lil, he'll be part of our girl gang or something in a month." I said, basically just to annoy Mordecai.

"Ooooh, we can hang out all the time then and, you know, do girly stuff and shit." Lilith laughed.

"I swear to God, I'm going to kill both of you.", Mordy muttered. I looked over at him and could see a small genuine smile on his face.


	57. Chapter 56 or Jumping At Opportunity

_song: Dorothy - Raise Hell_

Not long after Brick was back, Roland had called us all together for a team meeting. I had no clue if I was part of the team now or not, but I tagged along anyway, mostly for the coffee they had at HQ. It was the stuff that the higher ups of Hyperion were supposed to drink, but we had hijacked it from them, and it was seriously good.

Roland had just given us all the facts on the obstacles we were facing and how we could get past the death wall. But that was it. He concluded with: "To be honest, I've got no idea how to get past a door that'll only open for Jack."

The room was completely silent, waiting for Roland to give us some ideas, or some suggestions on what might work, anything to work with, really, but nothing. The only thing we could hear was Salvador eating some crisps. That was, until the ECHO console started crackling and there was some terrible white noise.

 _"Sorry to interrupt, but we've little time. Get to the city of Opportunity."_ Angel's voice came through the ECHO. We all looked at each other, sort of lost on what to do now and how to proceed.

 _"To breach the final door to my chambers, you'll need to be Jack - that means passing a bio-scan and speaking a password in his voice. If you can kill one of Jack's body doubles in Opportunity, I can get you through that door."_ she said after an awkward silence. We were looking at each other, a little clueless about how to proceed.

"Much as I hate tellin' you to listen to her, Angel's the best lead we got. You already know not to trust her, but... be careful." was all Roland replied to that. He shrugged and turned back to the console.

"So... Opportunity? The poster city Jack built?" Maya said.

"Poster city?" Axton asked, looking at her confused.

"Yeah, if you'd ever look at your surroundings, you'd have noticed the shitton of posters that are up on almost any wall, advertising Jack's high-tech city." Maya answered and rolled her eyes. Axton just shrugged and mumbled something.

"Seriously, though. Jack's broadcasting a 24-hour stream of propaganda to every family in the six galaxies, telling them to immigrate to that big-ass city he's building. While you're there, you're gonna show them what a bad idea that really is. Go borrow Moxxi's camcorder. We're replacing his propaganda." Lilith said.

"Eh, to be fair, I don't really wanna know where that camcorder's been and what it has seen, you know?" Axton commented.

"Normally I'd tell you to grow up, but... yeah, I'd have my reservations, too." Gaige replied to that. I sighed.

"I'll go and get it, if you want. Moxxi wanted to talk to me about some odd job she wants done anyways, so no problem there." I offered.

"Cool with me." Axton said.

"I wouldn't mind touching Moxxi's stuff." Salvador remarked with a grin on his face. Zero gave him a grinning smiley on his helmet.

"Yeah, uh, whatever, I'm gonna go and get that camera. See y'all later." I said and got up, before things got a chance to get weird.

"You gonna let her do jobs for Moxxi?" I heard Axton say to Mordecai, just as I walked downstairs.

"She's a grown woman, she can do whatever the hell she wants. Not like I'm gonna be able to stop her anyways." I heard Mordecai answer. I stomped down the stairs with a little smile on my lips.

Once again, I was thankful for how close Moxxi's was to HQ. It was great if you just needed a drink and days like that were plenty. Plus, it was just a good place to unwind after a long day of worrying, because that's what I mostly did these days. At this stage the only thing annoying me was the music blaring from inside.

I passed a few drunk patrons of the bar (the usual suspects) and went inside quickly. It wasn't too busy inside, but it also wasn't completely empty. There were a few people sitting at the bar as I passed through there and watched Moxxi giving them flirtatious looks. I waved at her and sat down on a bar stool.

"Hello, sugar. What can I do for you today?" she asked with a smile, once she had finished the order before mine.

"We need your help. Can we borrow your camcorder?" I replied, just now realizing that it was a pretty weird request. She looked at me for a moment and then started grinning smugly.

"You want my camera, huh? You can borrow it on one condition - anything you shoot better involve naked flesh, or explosions. Bonus points for both." she answered with a wink and disappeared into her backroom to fetch the camera. I looked around, feeling a little uncomfortable, since Moxxi had said that loud... VERY loud and I was getting the odd look here and there. Thankfully she came back pretty soon and handed me the camera, giving me the weirdest smile ever.

"There you go, sugar." she said. I hesitated a little, before taking the camera and packing it away quickly.

"Uh, thanks, Moxxi. You still got that job to do?" I asked. She seemed to think for a while until her eyes lit up and she gave me a smile.

"Oh, that! Yes, of course. The new Vault Hunters are going to Opportunity soon, aren't they?" she replied. I had no idea how she knew that and I didn't really want to know. Moxxi had her informants.

"Yup, they are."

"Wonderful! I feel like you'll have fun doing this - if Mordecai lets you go." she said. I just shrugged. Why was everyone on about this now? Not like it had ever been an issue before.

"He can give me suggestions, but he's not the boss of me. I'll go, depending on what it is." I answered.

"Okay, listen, sweetie. Jack destroyed my Underdome after I dumped him, and now he wants to build his own arena just to rub it in my face. We're not gonna let that happen, sugar. Get out to Opportunity and kill the construction foreman who's running the project." she explained. I blinked in surprise.

"Jack burned down the Underdome?" I asked.

"Yeah, I suspected it, but I only found out a little while ago. Anyways, he deserves that place burned to the ground." she replied.

"Fair enough. Sounds like it should be easy enough, especially if I make my way to Opportunity with the rest of the Vault Hunters. They can cover me while I go and snipe the foreman, then I get back via Fast Travel. Simple." I answered.

"Good. I knew you'd be up for the job, sugar." she said. I shrugged and gave her a smug grin, just like in old times.

"You know me, Moxxi, I live for the hustle."

"I like your style, sweetie. You can get a drink on me, if you want." she offered. I wanted to give an excuse to get back to the team meeting, but then I remembered we basically had already planned everything and the details would be tedious to listen to. Plus, a black label ale was even better than the coffee at HQ.

"Actually, why not? I could do with a drink now. I'd say the next few days are going to be pretty rough and we might all die, so yeah, I would like a drink." I answered, smiling to myself.

"Sounds like one hell of a plan you're going to attempt there." Moxxi replied, handing me the bottle.

"Yeah. They have to get one of Jack's body doubles apparently, so they can shut down whatever is charging the Vault Key."

"Sounds dangerous."

"Yeah, well, it probably is. Seems to be our best chance, though. Because no one's got any better ideas." I said and shrugged.

"I see. How is everyone else?" Moxxi asked.

"No idea. They all seem to be fine, but we're all on edge. Jack keeps threatening us and we know damn well he's not playing around. Roland is constantly planning and up for days on end, barely sleeps at all. Brick seems to be doing just fine, but you can see how bitter he is about everything that happened the last couple of years. Mordecai has good and bad days, but mostly bad days still. And Lilith... well, Lilith seems pretty unstable lately, but I could just be imagining things. I'd say that's about it." I answered with a sigh and started gulping down the beer. It was fairly good, for a Pandoran beer.

"Sounds about right with Jack in power. Are you alright, sugar?" she asked. I didn't know Moxxi cared much, but apparently she did.

"I'm holding up, I guess. I mean, the sooner this all ends, the better I guess. You okay, Moxxi? Why are you so concerned about how we're doing?" I replied.

"Oh, yeah, all I want is for Jack to finally die, so I can go and open my bars and my Underdome again. I'm really missing those days. And you guys are the only ones that have some sort of chance at that. So of course I'm concerned. Anyways, I'll be back to work. Call me if you need anything, sugar." she said and gave me her usual smile.

"Sure, thanks, Moxxi." I answered, but she was gone already. I sighed loudly again and quickly finished my ale.


	58. Chapter 57 or Revenge Is Sweet

_song: Sims - Burn It Down_

 _"Be careful, okay, chica? Don't wanna lose you because of a job for Moxxi." Mordecai said and placed a gentle kiss on my forehead._

 _"Don't worry, it's not the first time I'm doing this, I'll be fine." I replied, sounding more confident than I actually was. I had done odd jobs for Moxxi before and a good few of them were potentially life threatening, but that was all before Hyperion came to Pandora. It was pretty easy to outsmart bandits, but Hyperion? I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from them, especially going to Opportunity.  
_

 _"Alright, alright. Do the job and get back as quickly as possible, okay?" he said. I nodded, as he stepped back, so I could fast travel with the others._

Thinking back on this conversation, I really was way too confident. We stepped into Opportunity and everything seemed fine for a good while, but as soon as someone spotted us, bullets were basically raining down on us. Constantly. Add an insane amount of loaders to that and I realized I should have packed more insta-health.

 _"You'll have to make your way over to The Pits. The foreman will probably be there on the construction site."_ Moxxi echoed me. I rolled my eyes. At the moment I was stuck behind a crate while I was loading a new gun, after I had run out of SMG ammo pretty early on. I figured I would have to run through half the city with a shotgun and hope for the best. At this stage sniping wasn't really an option anymore.

"Got it, Moxxi, I have the position on my ECHO, I'm just a little stuck at the moment." I told her and looked out from behind my crate. It seemed like there wasn't much going on anymore, just an engineer and two loaders firing at my crate. I got up and fired two shots at the loaders, almost killing one and shooting the arm of the other.

A few more shots and they were all dead and I could make a run for the pits. I could hear a lot of shots being fired, but I had no idea if anyone was focussing on me at the moment. And if they were, it wouldn't be many people.

 _"That's one of the body doubles Jack uses to confuse assassins, and impress his underlings."_ I heard Angel's voice over the ECHO. Looked like they had found one of them. I really hoped they were all okay.

 _"Grab the pocketwatch device he dropped. It echoes his bio-signature to every machine in the immediate area, so his doubles can do all of his hand-kissing and baby-shaking for him. That pocketwatch also records audio - Jack loved to listen to the praise of his underlings. We need to create a voice modulator so you can speak in Jack's voice. Get to an info kiosk."_ she said next. I almost wanted to turn the other frequency off on my ECHO, but I figured that it was my only connection to the rest of my group. Also, I was kind of busy melting loaders and engineers for Moxxi's little revenge.

 _"There's the foreman – drop him for me, will ya?"_ I heard Moxxi saying. I looked up just to see a guy in Hyperion uniform legging it into the arena. I quickly reloaded my shotgun and ran after him, hoping he wouldn't get out of reach.

 _"Did you know that some people on this planet still believe in silly superstitions like angels, demons, and ancient alien warriors? We like to call them bandits."_ I heard Jack's annoying voice over the ECHO. They must have gotten to the info kiosks. Unfortunately, that ECHO message had shortly distracted me and I didn't see how the foreman had taken out his little handgun and fired it at me.

"For fuck's sake..." I growled and fired my shotgun at him angrily. I probably wasted a good bit of ammunition there, but at least he dropped dead. I felt a pain in my shoulder and glanced at it. Looked like he had managed to hit me there.

 _"Oh, he dropped a key. Do a lady a favor and grab it."_ Moxxi echoed. I looked around me until I saw the key and went over to get it, feeling a little dizzy from being shot.

 _"Yes! This is going to work - if I get a few more samples of Jack's voice, I can make a voice modulator for you. You need to get more voice samples from the other info kiosks."_ Angel said, sounding fairly happy.

 _"Did you know you're staring at the future site of the Opportunity pleasure palace? That's right - for a thousand bucks, you'll be able to spend an hour with a life-sized likeness of me."_ the info kiosk message came blaring over the ECHO next.

 _"Every key fits in a lock, sugar – check the containers, see if that key opens one of 'em."_ Moxxi said. I sighed. All those messages were pretty distracting. But at least there didn't seem to be any immediate danger at the moment, so I left the connection on and listened to the next info kiosk messages while I made my way over to the containers. My shoulder really hurt like hell.

 _"Hey, kids! Did you know your chances of being disemboweled increase by eighty thousand percent upon leaving Opportunity? It's a scientific fact."_

 _"Hey, kids! Did you know what your mommies and daddies gave up so your family could live in Opportunity? Literally nothing! Your family is paid to be here - I'm the one who feeds and protects everyone. Remember: we should all love our parents, but love me more."_

 _"Did you know littering in Opportunity is punishable by death? If not, you also oughtta know complaining about Opportunity's laws is considered verbal littering."_

Normally I would be shocked about those messages, but nothing about Hyperion really surprised me anymore at this stage. I tried a few different containers, but none of them would open with the key, except for one.

 _"Sounds like that key was just the right size. See if there's anything useful in there."_ Moxxi said, as soon as the door opened. I walked in and... holy shit. There were the usual tools, some plans for the arena and also a beautiful amount of well-built explosives.

 _"If I know my explosives – and I'd like to think I do – you could use those charges to flood the construction site. If you'd blow up the nearby retaining wall and flood those pits, I'd be awful grateful."_ Moxxi said in her fake sweet voice.

"Holy shit, Moxxi. I'm definitely gonna blow these pretty boys up." I answered and grabbed the charges. This was beautiful. I made my way to the retaining wall.

 _"Ol' balloon-tits is still holdin' a grudge against me, huh? I mean, don't get me wrong, I get it – once you've eaten prime rib for free, it's hard to go back to suckin' down hamburgers for cash. If you know what I'm talking about. Do you know what I'm talking about?"_ I heard Jack's voice over my ECHO. I literally jumped up because I got a fright. Jack had my ECHO frequency. Shit. I wasn't sure exactly how bad this was, but there was probably a good price on my head now. Damn it.

 _"Dicks! I'm talkin' about dicks."_ Jack said, just as a bunch of loaders started attacking me. They were literally standing between me and the retaining wall and I didn't have much ammo left for my shotgun. After that I only had my sniper rifle left. I cursed under my breath and pulled a grenade from my belt, throwing it in the middle of the group of loaders. It killed about three of them and damaged a good few.

 _"You okay, chica? It looks like Jack finally knows of you. Finish the job and get back quickly, okay? I don't like him knowing of you being part of the raiders."_ Mordecai told me over the ECHO as I was shooting my way through the loaders. I just about managed to get them with the last few shots I had left. But at least I managed to get to the retaining wall and place the charges.

 _"Get away from the explosives, sugar – they're gonna make a big boom."_ Moxxi said. I was loading my sniper rifle, as I was backing off quickly. In the distance I could hear even more loaders coming at me.

I was a little startled, when I heard the explosions go off behind me and when I heard screams from some engineers and workers that were being flooded with the arena. Moxxi was laughing over the ECHO, as I tried to focus on getting the loaders that came running at me out of the way. I only needed to get through to the Fast Travel station...

 _"My construction site! Ah, for... Moxxi, you BITCH!"_ Jack shouted, which made Moxxi laugh even harder. I tried sniping the loaders from a distance, but could only get so many until they started swarming me.

"Oh, fuck it all." I mumbled and ran into them, shooting them point blank. With a sniper rifle. Mordecai would be appalled.

 _"Ha! Haven't heard Jack that angry since I kicked his plastic surgeried ass to the curb. Come on back, sugar."_ Moxxi replied, sounding utterly satisfied.

"I'm trying, Moxxi, but I've only got ammo for my sniper rifle left. Don't tell Mordecai I'm shooting it at point blank." I answered her message. I dodged a hit from one of the loaders and was suddenly made painfully aware of my hurting shoulder. I had to get that patched up as soon as possible. I would use a health vial, but right now there was no time for that. I could see the Fast Travel station from where I was, it wasn't far now.

 _"Mordy, when I'm back I'm gonna need to go to Zed's immediately."_ I echoed him, hoping he wouldn't panic.

 _"Shit, are you alright, chica? What happened?"_ he asked.

"Just got shot in the shoulder. A little dizzy, but I'm almost at the Fast Travel." I answered. A little dizzy was an understatement. I had lost a good bit of blood at this stage, as I stumbled towards the Fast Travel station. I put in the code for Sanctuary and fired one last shot at a loader that was getting too close.


	59. Chapter 58 or Patched Up

_song: The Cranberries - Zombie_

 _"Attach the pocketwatch, quickly."_

 _"Or, you know, slowly."  
_

 _"I see the files."  
_

I slowly opened my eyes. I still felt pretty dizzy and my head hurt. I must have fallen at some stage. Was I still in Opportunity...? No... No, no, no.

As my surroundings became clearer, I realized I wasn't in Opportunity. I was looking at some ceiling, there was a Crimson Raiders poster stuck to it... this was Pierce Station! I was back in Sanctuary! I had made it through the Fast Travel and probably passed out while I was being transported back to Sanctuary. Must've hit my head on the station floor then, because it really, really hurt.

"Hey, you're awake." I heard Mordecai's voice next to me. I turned my head and started feeling a little sick from the movement. All I could see was the wall of the station, though.

"The other side, chica. You must have fallen pretty hard, huh?" he said. I slowly turned my head to the other side and looked into Mordecai's smiling face.

"What... what happened?" I asked.

"I think you'd have to tell me. I just made it here when you materialized and fell flat on your face." he answered.

"... How long was I out?"

"Only a few minutes, don't worry."

 _"All done. Now grab the voice modulator."_ I heard Angel say over the ECHO.

"Your shoulder looks pretty bad. You wanna try and get to Zed's?" Mordecai asked. I nodded. He helped me sit up, which made me feel even more sick.

 _"Great! Now, unfortunately, you will speak in Jack's voice until you reach the security door. I will tell you the password to open it at the appropriate time."_ Angel kept talking. I gave Mordecai a confused look.

"You want me to turn that off for you?"

"Nah, I wanna hear what's going on." I answered.

"Alright." Mordecai said and offered me a hand to help me stand up. I took it and pulled myself up. I felt incredibly dizzy and sick. I was leaning on Mordecai, hoping it would get better over time.

 _"As my voice changes / I cannot help but feel wrong / I sound like a jerk."_ I heard Jack's voice say. What was going on...?

 _"This is interesting technology. I wonder how it - oh, God, I sound atrocious."_

 _"Uh... is this thing working? Woah. That's weird."_

This was it. I felt too sick. I let go of Mordecai and stumbled against a wall which thankfully kept me standing upright, as I was throwing up. I don't know at what point Mordecai had made it over to me, but when I was finished vomiting, I realized he was holding my hair back. I was a disgusting human being.

"Damn, are you sure you can walk? You must have gotten a pretty bad concussion from that fall." Mordecai said, sounding genuinely worried.

"I think... I think I can maybe make it... to Zed's..." I replied, just before things slowly went black in front of my eyes again. I tried sitting down and almost made it, so it didn't hurt too much when I fell on my ass. I could feel how I started to sweat profusely and I almost wished I could throw up again, because I just felt so awful.

"No, you can't walk. Come on. Let me carry you." Mordecai said. I shook my head which made me feel a little sick again, but Mordecai didn't listen. I could feel how I was being lifted up and I could smell his scent. Not that it was a particularly pleasant scent, but it wasn't bad either. I had gotten used to it and it made me feel like home.

 _"AAGH!"_ I could hear Angel scream through my ECHO.

 _"You seriously thought you could hide from me, Angel? Is that what you thought? Say goodbye to your friend, Angel. Say it."_ Jack said, sounding angry. In a weird out-of-body way I realized I was scared at how angry he sounded, but I was too weak to actually feel panic.

 _"See you soon."_ Angel said.

 _"You found a way past the final door to Angel's control core, huh? Well, she's kept up her part of the bargain, surprisingly. Time to return the favor. Come on back and we'll steal ourselves a Vault Key."_ I heard Roland over the ECHO.

"Are we almost there?" I asked and realized I was actually bathed in cold sweat. I felt tired and exhausted and my shoulder really hurt now.

"Yes, just a few more metres. How are you feeling?" Mordecai asked.

"My shoulder hurts..."

"Yeah, you've got a nice bullet wound there. Looks clean enough, though, I'd say you'll be lucky with that."

"And I'm tired. My head hurts." I added.

"I can imagine. Are you still feeling sick?" he wanted to know. I shook my head. I wasn't feeling very sick. It had gotten better a little while after he had picked me up.

"Everyone survived Opportunity, didn't they?" I asked.

"Yes, everyone is fine. Don't worry. Zed will patch you up and then you can go and lie down and get better, okay?" he said.

"That sounds good. I'm really tired..."

I heard Mordecai walking down some stairs and opening a heavy door. I was actually quite impressed by how he managed to carry me all the way from Pierce Station to Zed's. Mordecai didn't look very muscly, but he was strong nevertheless.

"Whatcha bringin' me, Mordecai?" I heard Zed asking.

"She got shot in the shoulder and fell on her head. Can you have a look at her?" Mordecai replied.

"Sure thing, sure thing, just put her down here and I'll have a look in a second." Zed said. Mordecai put me down on Zed's cold table and I felt as if I was about to be slaughtered any second.

"Can you take care of her now?" Mordecai asked.

"I'm kinda busy right now, kid."

"That guy is dead, she's still alive. I'll pay you and he won't. You go and take care of her right now."

There was a long silence and I slowly opened my eyes, but was immediately blinded by the bright lights shining in my eyes. I groaned, holding my head.

"Fine. It's the middle of the night, so I'll charge more. Tell me everything you can about the injuries." he said.

"Got... hit in the shoulder... by a Hyperion guy... with a gun. Made it to the... Fast Travel... must have passed out... right as I was... dematerialising. Woke up in Pierce Station... head hurts, shoulder hurts and... feel dizzy... tired... sick when moving too much..." I mumbled. Mordecai was brushing my hair out of my face, as I was talking, wiping away some of the cold sweat on my forehead.

"Did you use a health vial?" Zed asked. I shook my head.

"I got to the station just as she materialised and fell down without reacting. She woke up a few minutes later, I helped her get up, but she got sick and threw up, so I carried her here." Mordecai said then.

"I see. Bullet seems to be still in there. I'll have to get that out before I give you a health vial, it'll hurt less that way. Can you keep her calm? This could hurt a little bit, but it'll be worse if she struggles" Zed said.

"Yeah, sure." Mordecai said and held down both my wrists. I was a little scared, because when Zed said it would hurt a little, it usually meant the pain would be excruciating. But what other choice did I have? I could hear Zed whistling and preparing something at the other end of the room.

"You scared?" Mordecai asked quietly.

"A little." I replied. He kissed my forehead.

"You'll be fine. You're a brave girl." he said.

"Alright, this might hurt a little, but keep breathing, okay, kid?" Zed said and came walking over to the table. I took a deep breath and nodded. I felt how he cut the wound open a little more, which wasn't too bad, compared to the constant pain in my shoulder. The bad part came after that.

He spread the wound a little and then dove in with a pair of pliers and pulled out the bullet. It hurt like shit and I most definitely screamed. A lot. But it wasn't over after that. Oh no. Zed still had to check that everything was okay, so he kept holding the wound open until he was happy. I swore and screamed and probably kicked either Zed or Mordecai in the process a few times. It felt like being in hell.

"You're lucky, the bullet didn't hurt any important muscles or anything." Zed said after a while and let go of the wound to get some thread and stitch it up. Looked like my ordeal was mostly over. Thank God.

"We'll have to disinfect it, before stitching it up, though. It'll sting." Zed added when he came back. I screamed even louder when I felt the sting of the alcohol on the fresh wound, hoping it would all be over soon.


	60. Chapter 59 or A Dangerous Mission

_song: Bryce Fox - Horns_

 _"This isn't a discussion. You're not going without me. Period."_

 _"Look, I need you here protecting Sanctuary. If this turns out to be a trap, I need you to keep these people safe."  
_

 _"Is this because Angel told me not to come?! It is, isn't it?"  
_

 _"Lilith - dammit, would you just trust me? Okay?"  
_

 _"If you get killed, I'm going to be really pissed."  
_

 _"Noted."  
_

 _"If you live, I'm tearing those clothes right off your body."  
_

 _"Eww - Lilith, we're standing right here! Nobody wants to hear that!"  
_

 _"Also... also noted."  
_

 _"Go on..."  
_

 _"Time to think up some memorable last words."_

I woke up from my delirious half-sleep, not knowing how much time had passed. After Zed had patched me up, Mordecai had brought me back to HQ and got me into one of the beds, where I belonged, fair and square. I was still there when I woke up, but everyone was standing around the table now.

"This is it, everybody. Lilith, Mordecai? You're protecting the city. Brick'll provide air support from Thousand Cuts, and I'll climb up to Control Core Angel from the cliff face. Any questions?" Roland said.

"Yeah - why ain't I going? I gotta pay Hyperion back for Bloodwing." Mordecai asked. I blinked trying to adjust to the light.

"And you will. But for now, I need you protecting Sanctuary in case this is just another trap. You'll get your payback, Mordecai. I promise." Roland answered him.

"Long as you say so, Roland." he mumbled and shrugged. I slowly sat up in bed. My head felt a little better, but my shoulder still hurt.

"Vault Hunters. We have a shot at stealing the Vault Key, and stopping Jack from waking the Warrior. All you have to do is get past a forcefield that'll atomize you, destroy a bunker carrying enough firepower to level a continent, and get through a door you can't possibly open." Roland addressed them. That didn't sound promising.

"That's his way of saying, we're probably gonna die." Mordecai said in a sarcastic tone and with a small laugh.

"It's time to get Claptrap to Thousand Cuts. We need him to shut down the forcefield." Roland continued. Lilith gave them a grin.

"Make it painful, guys." she said.

"This is gonna be FUN!" Brick agreed and laughed maniacally.

"Alright, let's go and talk to Claptrap so." Maya said with a sigh.

"Do we have to?" Salvador complained, but followed her along with the others. I looked at Mordecai who looked like he was deep in thought. I wondered what might be going through his head at that moment.

"FYI... it may take some serious convincing to get Claptrap to head to Thousand Cuts.", Roland echoed the Vault Hunters.

"Good morning, guys." I tried saying, but it was more of a raspy whisper. Mordecai came walking over to me.

"Hey, I didn't realize you were awake. How are you feeling?" he asked and sat down on the bed beside me.

"A little better. Thirsty. Maybe a little hungry, I'm not sure." I answered.

"I'll get you some water and some food. Let me look at your wound." Mordecai said and peeked under the covers.

"How's it look?" I wanted to know.

"Looks good. Should leave a hot scar." he answered with a big, smug grin on your face. I rolled my eyes and laughed along.

"Shut up. What's going on? Are they heading to Thousand Cuts now?" I wanted to know. Mordecai shrugged.

"I'd assume so. Don't worry. It'll be fine. Hopefully. I'll get you that water now, okay?" he said and walked downstairs to get food and water.

"I'll head out. Stay here and keep the city safe, okay, Lil?" Roland said. Lilith did not look happy about it, but she nodded and hugged him and kissed him goodbye. It was sad to watch, really. And it was strange to have Roland head out with the other Vault Hunters. I could literally feel from here how much Lilith wanted to go with him.

"Keep an eye out for Lilith, alright, Nova?" he said to me as he passed.

"I'll do my best, but you know she can knock me out anytime." I replied. Roland laughed a little and waved at me.

"I have a really bad feeling about this." Lilith mumbled and sat down on the floor next to me. She was staring gloomily in the general direction of the balcony.

"Well, there's nothing you can do. Angel probably has her reasons to tell you not to come." I said.

"Yeah, and she's also been toying with us for over five years now! I don't know if I can trust her." she replied. We sat in silence for a while until I decided to see if I could get some fresh air. I sat up in my bed and waited for a while to see if I'd start feeling dizzy. Lilith was nervously tapping her foot.

"Are you feeling better?" Lilith asked.

"Yeah, a little. I'm gonna see if I can walk without passing out or throwing up." I answered and moved to the edge of the bed, putting my feet firmly on the ground. I started feeling a little dizzy, but it quickly passed.

 _"Got some buzzards headin' your way, Slab!"_ I heard Brick's voice over the ECHO. I wasn't even that close to Brick, but it was good hearing his voice again. I got up, holding onto the bed frame. No dizzy feeling yet.

 _"Oh, you made it past the security wall, huh? That's, uh, that's real cute. Course, the bunker's still going to obliterate ya, but nonetheless - cute."_ Jack's mocking voice said. I sighed.

"What an asshole. I hate listening to his bullshit." Lilith muttered. She was in an incredibly foul mood today. I decided to ignore it for now and focused on walking. I walked a few slow steps and then went all the way over to the balcony. I didn't get dizzy at all. My head started hurting a little, but the fresh air made me feel better.

"Don't fall off there, Mordy is going to kill me, if you do." Lilith said to me.

"Yeah, I would." I heard Mordecai's voice from the other end of the room. I turned around and saw him standing there with some bread and a glass of water in his hand.

"I can walk without getting dizzy!" I told him happily. He smiled at me a little.

"Doesn't mean you should. Don't overdo it, even Zed said it. Sit down and eat something, drink something. We can go out for a walk later today if you feel like it, okay?" he answered. I walked back inside and nodded.

"Fine. Whatever happened to me being a grown ass woman?" I replied. Lilith laughed and got up from the floor.

"I'll go and get us some pizzas. I need some distraction. Will be right back." she said to us. I sat down on the couch and took the glass of water out of Mordecai's hands. I gulped down all the water in one go. It was insanely refreshing and made me feel much better. I had no clue how thirsty I was.

 _"Be careful, Slab! My boys seen a ton of bad guys between you and the bunker! I know you can do it!"_ Brick suddenly said over the ECHO. I looked at Mordecai, half confused and half scared. The plan that I had heard didn't sound very foolproof and even though I knew, the new guys were absolute badasses, I still worried about them.

"You want me to turn on the map? I know you like to see what's going on." Mordecai asked. I nodded.

"Thanks, Mordecai. You take good care of me, you know that?" I said as he walked over to the console to get all the ECHO data one could possibly get from them.

 _"I'm makin' my way up the cliffside, soldier. Keep pushing your way up and I'll meet you at the chamber!"_ Roland said through the ECHO.

"Shit. They're bringing out mortars..." Mordecai mumbled.

 _"Stay outta the target circles!"_ Brick shouted.

"Oh damn..." I said, my mouth full with bread. I got up and walked over to the holomap. I saw Roland's dot on the map and the six dots that belonged to the Vault Hunters. They kept pushing through Thousand Cuts as if nothing had happened.

 _"They ain't rollin' out the welcome mat. Maybe you should take out those turrets on the towers so they'll open the doors!"_ Brick shouted. Only a few seconds later both the turrets seemed down already.

 _"KNOCK KNOCK, BITCHES! Open up!"_ Brick shouted again. There was no movement for a good while, probably because they were fighting off loader bots.

"Oh man, they look like they're in deep shit..." I mumbled. Mordecai looked up at me with a worried expression.

"Hey, didn't I tell you to sit down and relax?" he replied.

"Oh my God, Mordy, I'm not a cripple!"

"You need to rest and both me and Lilith have enough to worry about as it is. Please sit back down." he replied. I huffed and pulled a chair up to the table and sat down there. Mordecai shook his head and sighed with a smile on his face.

"You just can't listen, like Lilith, hm?"


	61. Chapter 60 or Control Core Angel

_song: The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die_

 _"Hey, you know how I got my hands on that Vault Key? See, a few years back, Wilhelm and I paid a visit to your little friend Tannis. And we beat her for hours. We ripped it out of her broken fingers. But, we let her live. Because that's what heroes do. They show mercy."_ Jack said. I shook my head.

"I fucking hate him, fucking bastard, can't wait for the day we end him..." I muttered under my breath. I wasn't surprised Tannis was so screwed up after all this. Although she was kinda screwed up before this as well.

 _"Slab! You're comin' up on the bunker! I'm sendin' some of my boys to help ya out!"_ Brick announced. The Vault Hunters kept pushing through the area. I reckoned that they were pretty determined, now that we seemed to actually have something on Jack. I wondered what exactly the deal with Angel was. Why was she helping us now? Why had she been helping Jack before? It didn't make much sense.

 _"Eyes to the sky, Slab! My buzzards are comin' in! Take out those auto cannons, Slab - they're tearin' up your air support!"_ Brick shouted.

 _"That forcefield protects the final door to my chambers. It will only deactivate once you've destroyed the bunker."_ Angel said.

"What does she mean, destroying the bunker? Like... the whole building? How can we get to her if we destroy the building, if she's in it? That makes no sense." Mordecai mused, absentmindedly stroking his beard.

"I wonder when Lilith's gonna be back, she's been gone for a while now." I said. I had a bad feeling about her being gone for so long.

 _"Alright, fun time's over, kiddies - Brick and his mouth-breathers couldn't bust my bunker... and neither can you."_ Jack said over the ECHO.

"She said she was gonna get pizzas, didn't she?" Mordecai asked.

"Yeah, but that was quite a while ago. I wonder..."

"You think she might be following them? Crap..." Mordecai said and started frantically typing things into the consoles. While he was doing that there was lots of shouting from the ECHO, mostly Brick telling the Vault Hunters about dropping supplies or imminent attacks. It sounded messy.

"What are we gonna do if she's gone?" I asked, a little panic in my voice. Mordecai was shaking his head.

"I don't know. We can try to convince her not to go, but we can't go and leave Sanctuary defenceless. We could tell Roland..." he answered.

"He'd abandon the mission. Well... maybe not abandon it, but he wouldn't be able to focus on what he's doing enough. Not a great idea, I'd say, but you know him better." I said. Mordecai just nodded.

"No, I agree. If we tell Roland, he's gonna worry, and we can't have that. He needs to stay focused. I don't have her position, but she's definitely not in Sanctuary anymore. I'll try and get something, but it looks like she is distorting her ECHO signal. Damn it!" Mordecai replied and punched the console.

"I'll try and get a message through to her." I said and grabbed my ECHO.

 _"Hahahaha! No more auto cannons! Good job, Slab!"_ Brick said proudly.

"Huh. Looks like they've managed to get the job done. Or some of the job. I don't even know at this stage." Mordecai commented.

 _"Do you really think I'd protect Angel with nothing but a couple bots and some flimsy turrets? See, you're not at the bunker right now. The bunker isn't a place..."_ Jack growled. There was a pause and Mordecai managed to get into someone's ECHO and get some video of what was going on out there. A massive bot was flying up in the air. And I mean MASSIVE.

 _"THAT'S the bunker. Meet the BNK-3R, the greatest defense bot ever built. Designed her myself. Now do me a favor, and DIE."_ Jack added.

"Holy fuck." I said, gaping at the bot.

 _"Oh CRAP! The bunker went airborne, Slabs - this is gonna get messy!"_ Brick shouted, sounding a little too excited.

"Well, shit. At least NOW it makes sense what Angel was on about. I sure hope they can manage that thing. And I really hope Lilith hasn't followed them." Mordecai said with a grim look on his face. I got back to trying to reach Lilith over my ECHO, but all I could do was leave a message for her and hoping she'd get it soon.

"Lilith, I swear to God, I will end you painfully if you don't come back to HQ this instant. I can't believe you just went after them, when Roland SPECIFICALLY told you NOT to come along. What are you thinking? You'll get us all killed, either because this is some huge trap or because Roland will end us for letting you slip away. AND ANSWER YOUR GODDAMN ECHO." I said, knowing full well Lilith wouldn't listen, even if she got the message. I looked up at Mordecai and sighed.

"Can't get through to her, but I left her a message. You know she won't come back, just because we tell her to do so?" I asked him.

"I know, I know. I can't leave Sanctuary either and Lilith knows that. I guess we just have to wait and hope for the best." Mordecai replied.

"I could go..." I started, but he quickly interrupted me.

"No. You can't. You couldn't even stand up properly yesterday. There is no way you can go and get Lilith back here without your concussion or your shoulder getting worse."

"What about you going and I'll stay here and take care of the city?" I suggested. Mordecai shook his head.

"If anyone was to attack the city now we'd be one siren short already. It's nearly impossible for us to defend the city now, as it is, so I can't leave."

"Fuck. Guess, we'll have to let Lilith do her thing then." I said. Mordecai just sighed and shrugged. It was really annoying me that I just had to sit here and get healthy again. I knew I had to get some rest if I wanted to stay alive, but still.

 _"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"_ I heard Brick laughing loudly through the big ECHO console. It gave me a bit of a fright and I just about managed to catch my personal ECHO device before it hit the ground.

 _"With the bunker destroyed, you can access the door to my chambers. Move quickly."_ Angel's voice said.

"They've done it. They've actually done it." Mordecai mumbled and sighed with relief. I rubbed my eyes. This whole thing was getting pretty exhausting and I was feeling really tired.

"I've found Lilith." Mordecai said and nodded towards a dot on the map blinking in a kind of erratic way. She was close enough to everyone else to have an eye on them and not be noticed by anyone.

"Is she still trying to distort her signal?" I asked.

"Yeah, she could be anywhere in a 50 metre radius around that dot. It's not very accurate, but I have a somewhat stable signal now, so let's hope she doesn't notice we found her." Mordecai answered.

"Of course she would fucking run off." I mumbled, shaking my head. We all knew Lilith, how did we not see this coming?

 _"I'm nearly there, soldier! I'm climbing up the rear of the control core - I'll meet ya inside!"_ Roland said. I felt bad for not letting him know about Lilith, but it was better that way. The Vault Hunters seemed to stop in front of some door.

 _"Preparing bio-scan. Please stand on the Hyperion emblem... Scanning bio-signature... Bio-signature confirmed. Hello, sexy. Awaiting password."_ a robotic voice said.

 _"The password is... I love you."_ Angel said. This was getting weirder and weirder and I didn't like it. Something shady was up with Jack and this Angel girl.

 _"That voice modulator had better work, or this'll all be for nothing."_ Roland said.

 _"I love you."_ one of the Vault Hunters said in Jack's voice.

 _"Access granted."_ the robotic voice said and the security doors just... opened. This was pretty freaky.

 _"Consider this your final warn- no, consider this MY final warning. Turn around and I promise I'll make it quick. But I swear, you take one more step, every soul back in Sanctuary will die staring at their own lungs as I rip them from their chests."_ Jack said over the ECHO. Obviously none of them listened to him. They all gathered in an elevator and went down...

 _"Eridium alone could never charge the Vault Key. It needs a catalyst - something to awaken its power. It needs... a Siren. Jack acquired his Siren catalyst a long time ago. He kept her hidden from the world for years, but finally - you will be able to set her free."_ Angel explained, as they were in the elevator. They all got out quickly. It was eerily silent - no enemies, nothing. The halls were absolutely empty.

 _"I detect you're getting close. Hurry and reach me - you must get the Vault Key and... deal with me."_ she said as they got to the door to Control Core Angel. The door opened for them and revealed a massive chamber with Eridium pumps and some sort of strange force field in the middle.

 _"Executing phase shift. The Key is here, but...To truly stop Jack from waking the Warrior, you cannot just steal the Vault Key - you must destroy his catalyst. You must destroy..."_ Angel said. It was then that I and everyone else noticed there was a person in the forcefield - a young girl with siren tattoos.

 _"...me."_

This was it... this was when everyone realized that Angel was an actual person.


	62. Chapter 61 or Meeting Jack's Daughter

_song: Breaking Benjamin - Angels Fall_

 _"Jack's spent years pumping me full of Eridium, using me to charge his Key and manipulate his enemies. Destroying the Eridium injectors that keep me... alive... will stop the Key from charging. And it will end a lifetime of servitude. Now-"_ Angel said. I just now realized I was sitting there with my mouth wide open, staring at the small ECHO transmission we got. It still took me a good while to actually understand what was going on.

"What the... Who the fuck would do that to another living person?" I said quietly.

 _"You get the hell away from MY DAUGHTER!"_ Jack screamed all of a sudden. I gasped and hid my wide open mouth behind my hand - dramatic, but despite everything shocking that had happened so far, I did not expect this. Angel screamed in pain, which made me feel sick to my stomach.

 _"What the hell are you doing?! ANGEL?!"_ Jack screamed at her.

"She's... she's his... daughter...?" Mordecai stammered, probably still trying to piece everything together like me.

 _"Stopping you, you piece of-"_ Angel started answering, but got cut off by Jack.

 _"Rrgh - language!"_

 _"Nova, Mordy, are you seeing this?"_ Maya echoed us.

"Yes, we are. Damnit, just... go along with the plan. Do what she says." Mordecai answered quickly.

 _"The Eridium injectors! Destroy them!"_ Angel said.

"What kind of a fucking monster do you have to be to... to do this?" I asked breathlessly, shaking my head.

"To their own daughter... goddamnit! The sooner Jack dies, the better." Mordecai agreed, sounding angry.

 _"We got one of the injectors!"_ Axton echoed.

 _"Oh, no you don't! Shields up!"_ Jack growled.

 _"No! I'll try to expose the injectors, just hold on!"_ Angel shouted.

 _"Bandit, if you keep this up, I'm heading down there to blow your brains out myself. You hear me?!"_ Jack warned.

 _"He's lying - the coward would never face you in person!"_ Angel replied angrily. I felt a few tears falling down my face.

"Shit, Nova, are you okay?" Mordecai asked and came over to me, wiping some of the tears away.

"She's such a brave and beautiful young girl. She shouldn't have to die because her father is a psychopath." I said with a weak and teary voice. I had really become an emotional wreck, since I had been in the Gulag.

"Ssh, it's gonna be okay, maybe we can do something to save her..." Mordecai replied, but we both knew that wouldn't happen. As I looked back at what was going on I saw a whole bunch of loaders digistructing inside Angel's chamber.

 _"I can't stop Jack's defenses! Be careful!"_ she screamed, as the Vault Hunters tried to fight both the loaders as well as the shields of the Eridium injectors. At around the same time some shock shield generators started rising from the floor.

 _"I'll help you however I can!"_ Angel said. They kept fighting and it seemed to take forever. Angel was digistructing health vials and ammunition for them and the thing was - they needed it. They really needed it.

"Where the hell is Roland?" Mordecai mumbled, still standing at my side, one hand resting on my shoulder.

"I don't know. He should have made it in there by now. And where the hell is Lilith? What is she even doing?" I replied.

"I've a bad gut feeling about all this." Mordecai said.

 _"Hey! Up here! Need a hand?"_ Roland's voice suddenly came through the ECHO. I looked at the transmission and could see him standing on some sort of light bridge. Seeing Roland up there fighting made me feel better. Roland knew what he was doing. He had a plan and it was usually a good one.

 _"Roland! I need you to lower the shields around my Eridium injectors!"_ Angel told him. Roland took a look at her and seemed very surprised.

 _"Uh... did I miss something, or is Angel a SIREN?!"_ he asked.

 _"I meant NOW, Roland!"_

 _"Right - I'm on it!"_

There were even more loaders being digistructed now and some sort of defence turrets were being deployed. I wondered, if Jack's daughter actually meant anything to him. He seemed to be very protective of her with how fiercely he fought us, but was that because he loved her? I couldn't imagine he'd lock her up like that if he loved her.

 _"So this is how you bandits fight, is that it, huh?! You can't come straight for me, you gotta kill an innocent girl?!"_ Jack shouted at them.

 _"That's how he works - he'll try to guilt you, to make you think it's your fault! Don't listen!"_ Angel said, sounding desperate.

"Mordy... I don't think we can save her... I don't think anyone can." I mumbled. Mordecai was shaking his head.

"No, no, no. Why do you think that?"

 _"The shield's down! Shoot the injector!"_ Roland said. Shortly after the injector was destroyed and Angel screamed loudly.

"That's why. She needs the Eridium to live, because Jack has been pumping her full of it for God knows how long. If she doesn't get it she'll die." I explained.

 _"I'll expose the injectors - just stay alive!"_ Roland shouted and ran over to the controls for them to shut the shields down.

 _"You are endangering my baby girl. This is my vow: every friend, every child, every person you ever passed on the street... I'm gonna kill them all. You didn't follow the rules, bandit."_ Jack said in a threatening voice. I had to admit that it actually scared me. He had already killed and hurt people I cared about and I didn't doubt that he would kill everyone else as well. I just hoped we'd get to him first.

 _"Sweetheart, everything you could ever want is within these four walls! Angel, do you have any idea how much I've SACRIFICED FOR YOU?! The bandits I've killed, the people I've manipulated - everything I've done was to protect YOU!"_ Jack started pleading with her. I just shook my head thinking to myself how insane he must be.

 _"Ah, crap!"_ Roland screamed and I could only see him fall to the floor. The light bridge he was standing on must have collapsed.

"You okay, Roland?" I asked him. For a second I was afraid that he was dead, but he seemed to be moving.

 _"Dammit - now I can't reach the last injector panel! I don't know what-"_ he said, when there was a familiar purple light.

 _"How ya doin'?"_ Lilith said nonchalantly as she walked in.

 _"Lilith?! What the hell?! I told you not to come!"_ Roland replied, sounding both angry and relieved at the same time.

 _"Yeah, and I didn't listen!"_ Lilith retorted. As she was speaking there were more loaders being digistructed.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Lil." I mumbled, but couldn't stop a smile creeping on my face. She got there at just the right moment.

 _"Hey, look! Bad guys! These punks don't stand a chance against us!"_ she shouted and shot the loaders down with a few shots.

 _"Lilith, we've gotta move!"_ Roland urged her.

 _"I've got ya!"_ she replied and phased him up to the other injectors.

 _"This isn't over - stay on your toes!"_ she shouted at the rest of the group. They were barely holding up. After all, it had been an insanely long fight for them as well.

 _"Please. Okay. Are you hearing me? Please don't kill my baby girl. Don't you know what you're DOING?! Who cares about the goddamn Key - you're gonna end the life of an innocent girl!"_ Jack kept saying.

 _"Jack ended my life long ago. This has to end NOW, Vault Hunter."_ Angel replied in a spiteful voice.

 _"I got the shield down! Hit the injector!"_ Roland suddenly shouted. It was like every single gun in the room hit the injector at once. It broke down and the forcefield holding Angel collapsed. She fell to the floor. The Vault Hunters came running over to her. She was barely alive at this stage without the Eridium.

 _"It's done. It's finally done. Thank you... friend."_ Angel said with a small, exhausted smile on her lips.

 _"Angel, you can STOP this! I'll still forgive you, baby!"_ Jack was still screaming.

 _"Dad, I have to tell you something..."_ Angel replied. She seemed to even have trouble breathing without the Eridium. Lilith looked absolutely horrified.

 _"Yes, baby? What is it?"_ Jack asked.

 _"You're an asshole."_


	63. Chapter 62 or Counting the Cost

_song: 3 Doors Down - Here Without You_

 _"Angel?! NO, ANGEL!"_ Jack started screaming before his ECHO line went strangely silent. I barely noticed, though, because once again I had started crying. Mordecai was still standing next to me and I held onto his hand.

Over the transmission I could see how all the Vault Hunters gathered in Angel's chamber. They seemed pretty exhausted. Some of them had a somewhat disturbed look on their face. The whole thing was pretty disturbing when you thought about it. I was surprised how much Jack seemed to care about his daughter... or maybe he was only playing all that, too. Maybe that was part of his manipulating.

 _"What kind of person would do this to their own daughter?"_ Lilith spat, looking absolutely disgusted and terrified.

 _"The kind of guy who deserves to die."_ was all Roland said about it. And he was right. If Jack didn't deserve to die before, he definitely did now. I couldn't believe he'd treat his own daughter like that. I mean what did he think his excuse for that would be? I couldn't imagine any excuse for this.

 _"Was that it? Is it over?"_ Gaige asked, as she approached Roland. He shook his head slowly and sighed. 

_"Unfortunately not."_ he answered.

 _"I'd say it's gonna be a long while until everything is over."_ Maya commented.

 _"I'm so confused right now. It's like everything just... happened. All at once. And all of it completely unexpected."_ Salvador said. He looked a little bit like a lost puppy to me in that moment.

 _"Yeah, same here."_ Axton agreed. He seemed to be quite out of breath after the long fight. I was surprised nothing seemed to happen. I kind of expected shit tons of loader bots and engineers. I expected Jack to throw everything he had at them, but nothing happened and I didn't really like that.

 _"She's dead. Jack just lost his only way to awaken the Warrior."_ Roland said and it sounded like he was going to make an attempt at getting them all out of the control core and back to Sanctuary soon.

 _"Baby steps."_ Lilith agreed.

 _"We've got the Vault Key, but this isn't over yet. We've gotta find Jack and take him out. Lilith, take the Vault Key to Tannis. I'm going after Jack."_ Roland continued. I just thought it felt like he should be continuing his plan, when I heard one single terrible noise. At first I didn't want to believe it, but then I saw the big red spot spreading on Roland's chest. It was one single gunshot that I heard.

 _"ROLAND!"_ Lilith screamed and stared at him in disbelief as he fell to the ground. Everything seemed to happen so slowly.

"What the... what..." Mordecai stammered. I was just staring at the transmission in absolute shock.

 _"'Sup."_ Jack's voice said mockingly. Only that it wasn't just Jack's voice. It was Jack himself. I jumped up from my chair, knocking it over and tried to back away in panic, but thankfully Mordecai held me.

 _"You bastard, I'm gonna-"_ Lilith screamed and ran to attack him, but she was stopped by Jack in her tracks. She fell down on the floor immediately. When she moved to get up again, she revealed some sort of device strapped around her neck like some collar. She looked like she was in pain.

 _"Ah-tut-tut - language."_ Jack said to Lilith and looked her up and down with a mocking grin on his face. It made me feel sick.

 _"What's that saying? Don't pick a fight with a man with nothing left to lose? See, I'm going to show you just how much you have to lose - and I got the most powerful Siren on the planet to do it with. Lilith, kill the Vault Hunters. We've got a date to keep with the Warrior."_ Jack continued facing the rest of the group. Lilith was shaking her head violently and stretched out her hand towards the group.

 _"AGHH!"_ Lilith screamed, trying to resist whatever was controlling her. Must be that weird collar. Jack didn't seem to like that, he looked incredibly angry. I looked at Mordecai and could see that he felt just as helpless as I did.

 _"Do it, Lilith."_ Jack growled.

 _"NO!"_ Lilith screamed and all we could see next was the purple light of her phasing something or someone.

"Shit, I've lost their signal..." Mordecai said and ran back to the controls. The maps had gone down and the transmission was broken up. I was a sobbing mess again, because Roland was... gone, and feeling sick, because Jack had Lilith and would probably be doing God knows what to her.

"What happened? What the HELL JUST HAPPENED?! First Bloodwing, now THIS?! Vault Hunter, find me in Sanctuary - we gotta get Lilith back!" Mordecai shouted at them, panic in his voice, because he still couldn't get the signals back.

 _"We don't really know where exactly we are... Looks like some sort of storeroom... Lots of weapons and ammo here. We'll try and find you ASAP."_ Maya said, sounding confused and maybe even a little frightened.

 _"I'm getting a signal back... thank God, they're all still alive and in the same spot... I'm just trying to locate where they are..."_ Mordecai said and sighed with relief. I wiped away some tears and walked over to him to have a look at the holographic map. I counted all the dots, but there were only six.

"They're in Sanctuary! They're in the back room of Marcus' shop!" Mordecai said suddenly. I started counting again. Only six. There should be nine of them. At least seven... Brick wasn't back yet... And... Roland was gone and Lilith was missing... why didn't Lilith phase herself out as well?

 _"We've looted the room and we're going out now, hopefully we're not too far away."_ Salvador echoed.

"You are in Marcus' shop. Well done on looting him." Mordecai said dryly.

 _"What the - how the hell'd you get back there?! Ugh, frigging Vault Hunters."_ we could hear Marcus' saying in the background as their dots moved through the building.

 _"Son of a bitch - robbed me blind!"_ Marcus shouted only a few seconds later. It looked like none of the Vault Hunters cared enough to reply to that.

"Roland... Roland is dead..." I finally managed to say. Mordecai looked over at me and pulled me closer.

"I know, I know... I... Damn. Never thought this day would come." he replied. I was surprised he seemed to be handling it so well. But maybe he hadn't even had time to realize it.

 _"Are you okay? Did I get you to Sanctuary?! I feel... wrong. This device Jack's using on me-"_ Lilith suddenly said over the ECHO. She almost sounded like she had trouble breathing, but she was definitely in pain.

"Oh my God, Lil! Are you okay?" I asked, but there was no answer from her anymore. I looked up at Mordecai and was for some reason hoping for an answer from him, but of course he didn't know any more than I did.

"Hold on, Lil, we're going to get you back, okay? Just hold on!" Mordecai echoed her, just as the Vault Hunters arrived upstairs.

"Sorry that happened... we just... there wasn't really anything we could do... it was... damn it." Maya said, a little out of breath.

"It's okay, it wasn't your fault, you had nothing to do with it... just... Roland... son of a bitch." Mordecai said, shaking his head.

"What are we going to do now?" Salvador asked.

"I... I really don't know. With Roland and Lilith... gone... the resistance needs a new leader. I'm a drunk and Brick's a maniac - there's only one option. You. Vault Hunters, you're all we got left. Jack killed Roland, he killed Bloodwing, but he is NOT gonna kill Lilith. Jack still needs time to charge the Vault Key. You just need to find out where this Warrior is buried. There's only one place on Pandora that'd have that kinda info. The Hyperion Info Stockade. Get there, when you've recovered." Mordecai told them, his voice sounding tired.

It was then that we heard someone stomping up the stairs loudly and that could only be one person. Brick. He came upstairs and walked through the small group of Vault Hunters. All he asked was: "Did we manage to shut her down?"

Mordecai looked at him in disbelief.

"Did... did you not see what happened on the ECHO?" he replied. Brick just shook his head and looked a little worried.

"Nah, was flyin' buzzards. No time to look. Why, did we... did we fail?" he wanted to know. Mordecai sighed.

"Look, Brick, it's been a long day. We did shut Angel down, but... we'll give you the full story later, okay. Just... how about you go and get a drink at Moxxi's for now?" I suggested. Brick shrugged and nodded.

"Okay." he answered and went back downstairs again.

"Someone needs to tell him. Someone needs to tell everyone." I said.


	64. Chapter 63 or Bad News

_song: The Chemical Brothers - Alive Alone_

"Yeah. The folks in Sanctuary don't know about Roland. Almost none of 'em would still be alive if it weren't for him, so... you might wanna let 'em know." Mordecai said to the Vault Hunters. They looked at each other.

"Won't they... you know... find out themselves anyway?" Axton asked.

"Do you want them to find out from the Hyperion newscasts? Or would you rather tell them what REALLY happened?" Mordecai answered, sounding pretty annoyed.

"Sorry, I just... I'm not the best with that kind of stuff." Axton mumbled.

"No, sorry, it's a difficult thing I'm asking and it's been a rough day." Mordecai said.

"Someone's gotta tell Tina..." I added.

"Maybe we should split up." Maya suggested. I nodded.

"I'd say that's a good idea. Axton, Krieg, Salvador, how about you go and tell Marcus, Zed and Tannis? Maya, Gaige, Zero and I are going to tell Brick, Moxxi and Scooter." I agreed and looked up to Mordecai.

"I'm going to tell Tina, but I'll go to her personally." he said.

"Be careful, okay? Hyperion is probably watching Tundra Express closely. I don't think I could cope if we lost someone else. Especially not you." I replied quietly.

"I'll be careful. Don't worry. Now you better get going. Hyperion is quick with that kind of news." he said. I nodded and turned towards my little group.

"Let's go and head to Scooter's first." I told them and walked ahead downstairs. Usually hanging out with Scooter made me feel much better about things, so I hoped it would work this time as well, but I wasn't very optimistic about it.

"Hey, Nova, are you... are you doing okay?" I heard Maya ask quietly as we were walking out the door and through the streets of Sanctuary.

"No, not really. I can't believe he... he killed Roland. And not just that, he also took Lilith and that just makes me really fucking angry. As if Bloodwing wasn't already enough." I answered and clenched my hand to a fist.

"Uhm... what's... what's gonna happen to Lilith?" Gaige asked. I shrugged.

"No idea. She'll be forced to charge the Vault Key. Apart from that... I have no idea. I hope that that's all, but knowing Jack... sorry, I don't even wanna think about it. It already made me feel sick hearing that whole thing go down over the ECHO." I answered, shaking my head. We had arrived at Scooter's garage at this stage and he was just coming outside with a big smile on his face.

"Hey, 's not ev'ry day three sweet ladies come to my shop. What can I do for ya?" he asked with the sweetest smile on his face. It was actually breaking my heart, having to tell him about Roland.

"We've bad news, unfortunately." Maya said. Scooter's smile fell apart quickly. He looked at each of us.

"Bad news? What happened?"

"It's Roland, Scooter. He's... he's dead. Jack shot him in the back. And... he also took Lilith." I answered. Scooter looked at me for a while and then down at the floor. He seemed to be processing what he just heard. After a while he looked back up with a hurt expression on his face.

"I tell ya, man, I'll never forget that time Roland an' all them jumped over Piss Wash Gully. Them's was some good times. Hell, man, now I'm sad. Is this what sad feels like? You kill the crap outta Jack, you hear?" he said to us. I gave him a sad little smile.

"We will, Scooter, don't you worry."

"We'll kill him dead." Gaige added. Scooter nodded at us.

"We have to tell some more people, so yeah... sorry, we already have to leave again. Kind of a shitty day for everyone." Maya said.

"Thanks for callin' in an' lettin' me know. Appreciate it." Scooter said as we took our leave. Seeing Scooter so sad had actually made me feel worse and not better. This was the most difficult job I'd ever done and no one was even shooting at us.

"Who next?" Zero asked from the back of the group.

"Moxxi, I guess? I really don't know how to break it to Brick." Maya suggested. I nodded. Brick would be heartbroken.

"Yeah, that sounds good."

We made our way to Moxxi's bar, well aware that our group looked kind of odd to everyone around us - Maya still had a bleeding cut on her arm, I had a big bandage wrapped around my shoulder and was still red-eyed from crying, Gaige was limping and Zero... well Zero looked like Zero.

At this stage, people in Sanctuary were used to the whole group roaming the streets of the town, but half the group in an awful state? That was new. I started walking faster and faster, due to how aware I was of people staring at us. It was a massive relief to finally be at Moxxi's bar, where people didn't stare as much.

"Is it true?" Moxxi asked as soon as we set foot inside the bar. I didn't know how she knew already, but she had her sources.

"Yes. Roland is dead. Jack shot him in the back." I told her flat out.

"Jack killed Roland? Son of a bitch... he helped me take care of Mister Shank, and, unlike... well, damn near everyone around here, he always behaved like a gentleman. I don't... I don't know what to say. Dammit, am I crying?" she replied, unusually emotional.

"Sorry to bum you out like that, Moxxi." I said.

"It's okay, just... I still owe you your reward, don't I? One second, I'll ge-"

"No, no, no. There's time, Moxxi. Take a day off, if you can, or something. We definitely will, since we need a new plan now." I told her. She nodded.

"Thanks. Excuse me, I think I'm gonna need some time on my own." Moxxi answered and gave us an honest smile.

"Sure." I said and motioned to the others to clear out of the bar. Brick was the only one left now and he wasn't anywhere in Moxxi's bar, so we figured he had gone back to HQ. We walked back there without saying a single word. The whole day had just gotten more depressing, now that we had to tell everyone what happened.

It didn't take long to get back and once we got to HQ and upstairs, Brick came walking towards us. Mordecai seemed to be back already, as well.

"Mordecai told me what happened to Roland. So here's what we do. We bury Roland. We save this planet. And we kill Jack, his associates, his friends, his FAMILY - EVERYONE HE'S EVER MET! WE SKIN 'EM WITH THEIR OWN GODDAMN TEETH! ... I'm sorry. We went our separate ways a few years back, but Roland was my friend. And nobody - NOBODY! - HURTS MY FRIENDS!" Brick told us.

"Brick, that's... man, that's... that's a really beautiful thing of you to say." I replied. There were the tears again. Brick pulled me into one of his famous bear hugs and if I was being honest, I really needed one of those after today.

"Thank you. You are all the best friends I ever had and I'm really glad to be back with all of you, even if everything is really sad and we have to kill an evil dude." Brick replied. That just made me cry even more.

"Sorry for... getting your shoulder all wet..." I said to him, after he let me go (which was around the same time the other group came back).

"That's okay. I call for a group hug, now that we're all here."

"Oh no. No, no, no. I'm not the type for group hugs!" Mordecai protested, but Brick pulled him into a hug anyways, whereas everyone else joined in voluntarily. I never really knew of Brick's soft side, but Lilith had mentioned it on a few occasions. Thinking about that really made me hope we'd get some sort of life sign from her.

It felt like ages until we all let go of each other again and a somewhat awkward silence followed. We were all looking at each other, some of us more comfortable than others, but Brick didn't seem to mind at all. There was some weird expectation for someone to say something, so Mordecai started talking, after clearing his throat awkwardly.

"Sorry to bum you out like that, but somebody needed to tell 'em. I've transmitted the code to Roland's armory to your ECHO device - if anyone deserves what's in there, it oughta be the badasses who're gonna avenge him." he said, as he was typing something on his own ECHO device. There was a message popping up on all the Vault Hunter's ECHO devices at the same time.

"Is this... it? Should we... go down there now?" Salvador asked.

"Whenever you want. It's all yours now. Roland... he won't need it anymore." Mordecai said and tried giving them a half-smile.

"Thanks, Mordy. We really appreciate it." Maya replied.

"Don't let this all be for nothin', amigo. Find Jack. Kill Jack." he answered.

"Gracias, amigo. I'll go and have a look at it now." Salvador said and walked downstairs. Everyone else quickly followed him, because obviously everyone wanted to claim the best gun for themselves.

 _"'m alive! AAAAGH!"_ suddenly came from the ECHO console. It was Lilith. For Lilith to scream like that, she had to be in a lot of pain.

"We have to get her out of there, Mordecai." I said quietly. We couldn't afford any breaks.


	65. Chapter 64 or Popping Pills

A/N: Contraception is important, kids!

* * *

 _song: Echo & the Bunnymen - The Killing Moon_

"Okay, so we have to get to the Arid Nexus to get to the Info Stockade." Mordecai said matter-of-factly.

"Can't." Brick countered almost immediately.

"Why not? We managed to get through fairly easily last time." I replied. Brick looked at both me and Mordecai.

"That's been quite a while ago. You think they didn't notice your security breach? Think again." Brick said, sounding as if he was in absolute disbelief about how stupid we were being. And to be fair, it was kind of stupid to think it would still be as easy to get into the Arid Nexus as it used to be (and that wasn't even too easy).

"Okay, so they've gotten more security. What's that mean for us?" Mordecai asked. Brick came up to the table with the holomap.

"I dunno. We can try the bridge in Eridium Blight, but we need a backup plan in case that doesn't work." Brick said with a shrug. Mordecai sighed.

"Fine. Brick, you go and work out a back-up plan, while I try to get some more info on what's going on in the Eridium Blight and if it's even safe to go through there. I mean, safe enough for us." he replied.

"And what are we gonna do while you are off, being busy?" Maya asked. She was lying on the couch with the new Maliwan catalogue in her hands and had just now joined in the conversation at all.

"How about you give yourselves a break? Nice relaxing break? Do something... fun?" Mordecai suggested.

"Boring." Maya answered with a smug grin on her face.

"I've an idea what you could do. Should be fun. Got some business to take care of in Lynchwood. Interested?" Brick asked.

"Sure. Whatchu got?" Maya asked.

"There are three things I wanna do. One, fight the Sheriff. Two, blow stuff up. And three, get paid. So, blowin' apart the Sheriff's bank is basically the dream job. Head to the bank and case the joint." Brick explained.

"That actually does sound like fun." I said.

"Uh... You don't think you're goin', right?" Mordecai stepped in.

"Yeah, I'm going." I replied.

"Nova, you're still injured! Jack's girlfriend is the sheriff of Lynchwood, this is not gonna be some fun walk in the park." he protested.

"Oh, come on. I'll be fine. I've got a good bit of cash from Moxxi's job, I'll buy myself a shit ton of health vials and I'll be fit in like two hours." I told him.

"Depending on health vials will make it harder for you to actually properly heal without any stimulants. This is a terrible idea, Nova." Mordecai insisted.

"Look, we have already lost many good people. I can't afford to be taking vacations right now. I'm planning to power through on health vials until this all is over and then I can take as much time as I want to heal up. You need me in this, don't deny it."

"She does have a point, you know." Brick agreed. Mordecai gave him a dirty look and sighed, massaging his temples.

"I still think it's a bad idea, but you're not gonna listen to me anyways, chica, so there is no point in me giving myself a headache over this. Pero ten cuidado, por favor." he said and gave me a pleading look.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine." I replied and stood on the tip of my toes to give him a small kiss. He didn't look too happy still, but he would be busy scouting out Eridium Blight anyways, so I hoped he would be distracted from worrying about me.

"I'll gather everyone else so. Will we all meet at Pierce Station in about two hours?" Maya asked. I nodded.

"Sounds like a plan. Brick, you'll keep us updated over the ECHO?"

"Yup. This is gonna be awesome." Brick said with a big massive smile on his face.

"I'll be off stocking up on those health vials and some ammo then." I replied and made my way downstairs. Tannis was pacing in her room downstairs, looking at some scribblings from time to time and mumbling something I couldn't understand. She didn't take Roland's death too well, I assumed.

At this stage I thankfully knew where to go, if I wanted to get to Zed's place, since I had been there enough in the past few months. It was like any other day I had some sort of new injury and lately it had been checking up on my stitches and my head. Sometimes I thought we were Zed's primary source of income.

I walked into his office without even knocking, because at this stage I had seen enough weird things there already and Zed didn't even listen to people knocking. Everytime he just quickly hid some body parts or whatever the hell he was experimenting on. I tried really hard not to think about what he was doing in here, but it was definitely featuring in some of my nightmares. Zed's place was like something straight out of a horror movie.

"Nova! Surprised to see you here. Is it time to change the bandage again?" he asked and hid some strange body parts. Looked like some animal parts to me, but I quickly pushed the thought out of my head.

"Uh... maybe. I don't really know. I wanted to stock up on health vials, maybe a new better shield. I gotta be ready to go and fight in two hours." I replied. Zed blinked and kept looking at me.

"Sorry, say that again." he said.

"Gotta be ready to fight in two hours. We're gonna be off to Lynchwood then." I repeated. Zed nodded slowly.

"Lynchwood, hm? Tell you what. I'm gonna give you my last two healing kits. They don't make them anymore, so there's only a few left. Don't really have any use for them myself, but you can have them. I can get you fit in two hours, but it'll still be more exhausting than usual. Sure you wanna do this?" he answered and went to the back to get the healing kits.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Thanks, Zed. Say, there are two more things. I'm gonna need you to... uh... check something for me. I really should have had that checked a long time ago, but there wasn't really much time." I said.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Uh... before I left for Pandora, I... uhm... I got an implant. Just need you to have a look at it real quick." I replied. Zed came back with the two health kits and looked at me a little confused. I felt a little uneasy, because of the... intimate nature of what I was asking.

"Why do you need me to check on an implant? If it's working and it doesn't hurt, it's fine." he said and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, so far it obviously has been working. Or we were lucky. Not sure. Just... it's... I can't really afford getting knocked up right now." I told him flat out. Realization was dawning on his face and he put down the health kits.

"Oh. OH. Right, that kind of implant. Sure, sit down and give me a second. You've had it for how long now?" Zed asked.

"Must be about 15 or 16 years at this stage. It should last 25 years, but I haven't had a checkup for the last 15 years, it is about time." I answered, as Zed got some sort of needle ready. I held my arm out to him and he felt for the implant in my arm.

"Feels like it's in the right place." he said and quickly rammed the needle into my arm. I grimaced, but didn't say anything, as he pulled the needle out again. He went over to some instruments and after a couple of minutes he turned to me with a smile.

"It's all good. No need to worry. At least for the next 10 years." he commented. I got up from the chair and grabbed the healing kits before Zed got a chance to rethink his decision of gifting them to me.

"Thanks, I'll worry about that another day." I said with a smile.

"You mentioned something else?"

"Yes. See, I keep having these nightmares and I used to get a lot of panic attacks in combat and I still get them sometimes. Do you have anything that'll calm me down? Without side effects that'll make me slow or sleepy?" I asked him.

"Well, I have... something. Not sure about the side effects, I haven't really tested it yet. You can test it if you want to. It's this mushroom that's native to Pandora. It definitely calms you down, but I didn't have enough test subjects to get a good overview of the side effects." he replied and looked quite pensive.

"What side effects did your few test subjects have?" I asked.

"Some mild hallucinations, being awake for a good while, exhaustion after. One or two reported getting sleepy." he said.

"Alright, I really can't afford to care. I'll take it." I replied, not really sure how good this idea was. Zed seemed happy anyways. What could possibly go wrong?

"Great! I've got them as pills over here, I'll give you a few..."


	66. Chapter 65 or Welcome To The Wild West

_song: House of Pain - Jump Around_

Arriving at the train station in Lynchwood was weird. The whole place looked like some cheesy Wild West ECHO show. It was fairly chilly in the train station considering that this place was basically in the Dust.

"So, wait, Jack's girlfriend built this place?" Gaige asked in disbelief. I shrugged.

"That's what it sounded like." I answered.

"What, is she into those cheesy cowboy movies?"

"She might be into being a cowgirl..." Axton mumbled with a smug grin on his face. He and Salvador looked at each other and burst out in laughter. Maya and I simultaneously rolled our eyes, while Gaige looked confused beyond belief.

"What's so funny about that?" she asked.

"Oh, my sweet summer child..." I said, laughing a little. Then it seemed to dawn on her what they meant.

"Oh. OH. Right. You think they're into that?" she asked.

 _"You know I can hear you talk through your ECHOs and you're talking 'bout things I don't wanna hear?"_ Mordecai's voice suddenly came through our ECHOs.

"Sorry, Mordy." I said.

"Hey, what's Mordy into?" Axton asked with a mischievous grin on his face. I was shaking my head.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I answered with a smile.

 _"Oh my God, I'm RIGHT here and listening."_ Mordecai said.

 _"I'm interested."_ Brick's voice suddenly chimed in.

"Brick, here's a suggestion for you: If you don't wanna be Bloo- ahem, if you don't wanna get shot by Mordy, you better shut up." I said, hoping no one (especially not Mordecai) had heard that slip of the tongue. If you don't wanna be Bloodwing's lunch. I had almost said it. I had almost forgotten that she was dead.

There was a somewhat awkward silence on the other end and everyone else was looking around a little nervously, until Brick finally, finally answered.

 _"Alright, alright, I'll shut up."_

 _"Thanks, because I definitely would have shot you."_ Mordecai replied. I sighed with relief. Even if he had heard it, he didn't take it badly. That was good.

"Are you guys echoing each other while you're literally in the same room?" Maya asked incredulously.

 _"Maybe. How about you stop asking questions and focus on that break-in?"_ Brick replied, which made Maya grin.

"Alright, let's get out of this station and into this bank." Salvador said, smiling like a little child that just got a bucket full of sweets.

We made our way up the metal stairs and through some narrow hallways until we made it outside. It was eerily quiet, as if this was some sort of ghost town. I was surprised not to see anyone in the station. But then again this was some sort of Hyperion town, who knew what kind of weird rules they had.

When we got outside we basically walked into a wall of hot air. We were on some sort of balcony and looked down onto the town. It was a surprisingly normal looking town for Pandora - badly built houses that looked like they could fall apart any second with small alleyways in which anything or anyone could be hiding.

"Guess we're going down those stairs?" Axton asked, pointing toward some metal stairs leading down into the town. Zero shook his head and hopped over the balcony and onto some roof. Just because he could.

"Or not." Axton mumbled and started making his way downstairs. Just as we arrived downstairs a ton of bandits and psychos came running out of the houses, screaming and opening fire, as if they had just been waiting for us.

"Okay, Brick, why didn't you tell us that this is basically Old Haven, just with bandits instead of lancemen?" I echoed them as I was hiding behind a wall to reload my SMG. A sniper rifle would do nothing for me here - not until I was on some higher ground and had a good vantage point. Which would be difficult with all the narrow alleyways in this town. There were some announcements made by some deputy babbling on about how people should be reasonable and just stay inside not doing anything, so the sheriff wouldn't kill them all. Must be a fun place to live in.

"Are you okay over there?" Gaige screamed as she shot her shotgun wildly in the general direction of some bandits. The pellets ricocheted several times and hit most of them, killing them instantly.

"Holy shit, Gaige, that was fucking WILD." I said, spraying three psychos with bullets from my SMG as they came running at me. One of them almost made it all the way over to me before he finally dropped dead.

"Watch this!" Gaige shouted and held out her arm, activating her robot, Deathtrap. I had to be honest, Deathtrap was really impressive. Especially once he floated towards the remaining bandits and cut them up with his claws.

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed, wiping some blood off my face.

 _"You're near the vault - see if you can open it."_ Brick echoed us.

 _"I'm on it!"_ Maya echoed from a block further away. I grabbed Gaige and we ran over to where she was, covering her back as psychos and bandits came running at us. This would be exhausting enough under normal circumstances, but all of this in the hot, dusty desert air? I was craving some water pretty quickly.

 _"Can't get it open!"_ Maya shouted into her ECHO.

 _"Damn. I knew it wouldn't be that easy."_ Brick replied.

 _"Really? You think so, Brick?"_ Mordecai commented sarcastically.

 _"Looks like the wall's made of poly-kryten, which only dissolves when exposed to skag bile. I got an idea - we need a bomb, covered in skag bile. Now, this ain't gonna make a lot of sense, but just bear with me. First, find some laxative."_ Brick told us. Maya, Gaige and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

 _"Whatever he says, I guess. Where the hell will we find some laxative?"_ I said.

 _"I have some. Up here."_ Zero echoed us. Under normal circumstances this would have weirded me out, but I guess it was actually pretty helpful right now.

"Okay, Brick, what do we do with it once we have it?" Maya asked.

 _"Now it's time to find some explosives. That may be my favorite sentence I've ever said, hahaha! Anyway. There should be a bandit around there named Mad Dog - sumbitch loved to toss dynamite at my Slabs when they came into town. Take him out and get his boomers."_ he explained.

"Got his location on my ECHO. I'll head over there, someone coming with me for cover?" I asked. After all, I was the woman delivering explosives to anyone who asked.

 _"I'll go with you, meet me at the train tracks."_ Salvador echoed.

"Awesome, be there in a minute." I replied and started running through the alleyways, trying to hide from the bandits and move over there quickly. There was no way in hell I'd survive if I tried taking all of them on by myself.

I made it pretty far, but once I got to the train tracks, they obviously saw me, because I was out in the open. I could see Salvador from the other side of the tracks emptying magazine after magazine at them. I kept on shooting them with my SMG, as I slowly made my way towards the train tracks.

It felt like an eternity until I had finally reached Salvador on the other side. We fist-bumped (for whatever reason, Salvador had started it and I just decided to roll with it) and ran ahead through masses of bandits working just outside the town. It was good fun doing this with Salvador, because he just went guncrazy. He literally never ever stopped shooting at bandits left and right, as we ran through crowds of them.

 _"Rootin' tootin' lootin' son of a gun!"_ we suddenly heard a voice behind us calling. We turned around and there was a guy who we assumed was Mad Dog. He looked a bit like a psycho, just older and... more insane.

"Go ahead inside and get the explosives, I'll take care of this fucker, chica!" Salvador told me with a manic grin on his face.

"Whatever you say, Sal." I replied and ran off into the little hut Mad Dog had appeared from. All I could hear from outside was a lot of screaming, a bazillion gunshots and some loud and obscene swearing in Truxican.

I had a look around the wooden cabin and saw nothing that looked like a safe place to store explosives. I checked under the bed - nothing. I checked the weapons chest - nothing. I checked the table and the small safe - also nothing.

There was only one place left. The washing machine. I opened the door and indeed - there were the explosives. I was shaking my head as I was taking them out of the washing machine. Who the hell would store explosives there?

"Brick, I got them. What now?"

 _"We got what we need to make a bile bomb. Go slap the bomb down outside a skag den."_ he answered. I could hear his grin over the ECHO.


	67. Chapter 66 or Cash Money

_song: Royal Deluxe - Make A Little Money_

As I went back outside again, I saw Sal going through the pockets of the now deceased Mad Dog. His guts were spilling out onto the ground, but Salvador didn't seem to mind much. I grimaced a little, as I saw Salvador taking some gooey bank notes from his pockets with a big smile.

"You got the bombs?" he asked, big grin still on his face.

"Yup. We gotta place them outside a skag den now, apparently. I mean, it doesn't sound very safe, but what even is safe here?" I replied.

 _"Your standards are way too high for Pandora, querida."_ Mordecai echoed. I heard Salvador giggle quietly and felt my face going bright red.

"He's calling you his querida already, chica? Wow." he commented.

"Shut up, Sal. If anyone hears about this, I'll have your head." I said. Inside I felt all fluttery from being called some cute pet name. Took me right back to being a teenager with a crush on some guy from out in the slums of Aquator.

"Woah, woah, woah. Alright, chica, calm down. Let's find this skag den."

 _"Explosives, huh? That oughta be fun."_ we heard a voice through our ECHOs that we hadn't ever heard before.

"Is that the Sheriff?" Salvador asked Brick.

 _"That's her indeed."_ he answered in a gloomy voice.

"At least she has taste when it comes to fun." I mumbled.

"Hey, there's a skag den over there!" Sal pointed out and ran ahead. I followed him and turned on my video transmission.

"Hey Brick, will that skag den do?" I asked.

 _"Yeah, that's perfect. Cool. Now coat it in laxative. The skag will eat the bomb, cover it in his bile, then vomit it back up. Then we can blast through the bank door! Simple, heh! Except for how goddamn complicated it is."_ Brick instructed us.

"Of course, let's just coat this unknown explosive with the laxative we don't have and-" I started mumbling, but was interrupted by something hitting my head.

"Oops, sorry, I thought you were paying attention." Salvador said and picked up whatever he had thrown at me and brought it over to me.

"How did you get the laxative?" I asked him.

"Zero's thrown it over to me while I was waiting for you." he answered and shrugged. I looked back and forth between the laxative and Salvador for a while.

"Okay. Cool. Thanks. Anyways, let's just coat this unknown explosive with the unknown laxative that we found lying around here and hope it doesn't blow up in our FUCKING FACES." I mumbled again, as I put the laxative on the bomb and took a few quick steps back. It didn't take long until a skag came running out of the den, curiously sniffing the bomb. Thankfully skags basically eat anything they could find, so he gulped it down fairly quickly and we didn't have to worry about it too much anymore.

 _"He went for it! Lucky for us, skags eat and crap outta the same hole, so this won't take too long. Follow him and get the bomb back when he horks it up."_ Brick informed us.

"How do you know all this, Brick?" I asked.

 _"Had a bit of a chat with Tannis a while ago. It's quite interesting, really."_ he answered. Shortly after that the skag started heaving and opened his mouth spewing out a big pile of crap. It wasn't exactly beautiful to watch. Once the skag was done, he wandered off, back into his den. I had never seen such a peaceful skag.

 _"Now you gotta dig through that."_ Brick said.

"Ugh. I always hated when I had to dig through the skag piles for health vials or ammunition or money or whatever the hell they all gulp up. Man, those were low days for me." I told Salvador with an almost nostalgic feeling, while I was digging through the skag pile with my bare hands.

 _"Voila! One skagbile bomb ready for bank-bustin'! Just slap that on the bank wall and wait for the fireworks!"_ Brick said.

"Great. Let's get back to the others." I said and walked ahead, Salvador following me. As we got to the train tracks I could see the rest of the group (minus Maya) standing around something. I jogged up to them to see what they were looking at. It was a skag puppy. IT WAS A FUCKING SKAG PUPPY.

"Uhm... are you raising a badass skag so it can kill us later on or what exactly are you doing?" I asked them.

"He looks so cute! Maya has gone to find him some medicine, because he seems to be hurt." Gaige said.

"His name is Dukino." Axton added sheepishly. I looked back to the town and saw Maya running back to the group with some medicine in her hand.

"Here, little guy, I've got something for you." she cooed and gave him the medicine, giving him a sympathetic look.

 _"Awww. He looks hungry. Maybe get 'im some skag chews."_ Scooter's voice came through the ECHO. Of fucking course. Scooter had a soft spot for skag puppies.

"I'll go and get some food for him with Krieg. You guys do your bank thing, while we're gone, okay?" Maya said, grabbed Krieg and disappeared without even waiting for a reaction from anyone.

"Someone has to watch out for the little guy. I'm wounded at the moment anyways, so I'll stay with him." Axton replied.

"No, I wanna stay with the puppy!" Gaige protested.

"Guys, guys, guys. We kinda have a job to do here. Let's get to the bank. We can play with the puppy later." I said.

"I'm staying here." Axton insisted.

"Fine. Everyone else coming? I've got a fucking weird bomb covered in skag bile in my hands and I don't wanna hold onto it for too long." I explained. I got some nodding from everyone else and we started making our way back towards the bank. There were less bandits now - thank God - but they were hiding more carefully, too. We had made it to the bank fairly easily, I placed the bomb and lit the fuse. It was a fairly short fuse and I had already mentally prepared for dying, but it wasn't half as bad as I expected. The bomb blew the vault open nice and clean.

 _"Heh, a bank robbery. Now you're talkin'. Get 'em, boys."_ the sheriff echoed as we were halfway back at the bank. I rolled my eyes as a good 20 bandits jumped out of their hiding spots.

 _"That Slab busted the bank! Let's loot the place and kill that idiot!"_ I heard one of them shouting, as he came running at us.

 _"Hey, you think it's weird that we're feedin' skag parts to other skags? It's kinda weird. That feels weird."_ Scooter mused over the ECHO.

"Now's not really the time, Scooter." I replied as I was blowing someone's head off with a shotgun.

 _"Ah, crap. Bank guards. Get rid of 'em!"_ Brick said.

"Already on it, boss." I answered. I was looking around and saw that most of us were fairly busy fighting off the bandits.

"Gaige, get the money, so we can go and leg it out of here!" I shouted, hoping she would hear me. There were only five bandits left, but I was feeling a sharp pain in my shoulder and I really needed to get a health vial for that.

 _"You got the money? Now get outta town, Slab, before the Sheriff sics her posse on ya!"_ Brick told us. I looked behind me and saw Gaige with her backpack full of cash.

 _"Nice robbery. I think you deserve my best. Boys, get after 'em!"_ the sheriff replied to that. I rolled my eyes as I grabbed a health needle from my belt pouch and jammed it into my shoulder.

"Let's leg it out of here, guys! I can't go fighting them right now! Salvador, Zero, you guys stall the guards, while Gaige and I make a run for it, alright?" I shouted. Not waiting for an answer, I grabbed Gaige by her arm and we ran off towards the refinery.

 _"Now, you gotta stash that cash or the Sheriff's boys won't ever stop lookin' for ya. Find a good place to hide it and my boys'll pick it up later. Don't worry - I'll pay ya even more than what you got from the bank job once this is all over."_

"Gotcha. Will you mark the locations for us on the map?" I asked.

 _"Sure thing."_ Brick answered. A second later three locations popped up on the map and thankfully we were running in the right direction already. In the distance I could hear some skags roaring and I started running out of breath.

"Gaige, what's after us?" I panted.

"They're not technically behind us, they're... uh... surrounding us. Bandits riding skags." she answered. I stopped and gave her a deadpan look.

"Are you serious?" I asked. I didn't even need to wait for an answer, when I heard a loud growl and saw a bandit mounted on a skag charging towards us.

I had about 4 different guns with me, but only had my SMG ready to fire. So all I could do was to spray them with bullets hoping I'd hit them, while Gaige ran at them with her shotgun. The girl couldn't hit a thing if her life depended on it, but she got them with ricocheting bullets most of the time.

"Sometimes I think nothing can surprise me anymore and then there are fucking bandits riding skags. I fucking hate this planet." I shouted while running in circles to get away from the skag.

"Amen." Gaige agreed.


	68. Chapter 67 or Shelter for Dukino

_song: Marty Robbins - Big Iron_

 _"Brick always did have a flare for the dramatic. Made a real scene of it when he escaped my jail - blew it sky high, swore revenge for what Jack and I did to him, said we'd turned him into a bandit the moment we killed his dog. Dealin' with you, I think, is gonna be much simpler for both of us. I die, or you do. Nice and clean."_ the sheriff echoed us once we had buried all the loot and had finished off all her little minions. Great. Couldn't wait to actually kill her and finally get out of this godforsaken desert town.

"Hey, Sal, does anyone back there have any water?" I echoed, while Gaige and I were slowly dragging ourselves back into town.

 _"Sí, there should be some left. You okay?"_ he replied.

"I guess, we are. Just thirsty. We're on our way back." I said.

 _"Let me know when you're ready for the next job."_ Brick echoed. I could hear the grin on his face and wondered what next job he was on about.

"Ready once we're back in town, I guess. What kinda job is it?" I asked. Maybe one of the others would be able to do it, while we were walking back. They should have found the food for their skag puppy after all.

 _"Okay, listen up. Every day, the Sheriff of Lynchwood sends whatever Eridium she's yanked from the mines back to Jack. That stops today. You're gonna blow up the train she uses to transport the stuff. Get to the demolition depository."_ Brick replied.

 _"That sounds like fun! I'll do it, anyone coming with me?"_ Salvador chimed in.

 _"Sounds like fun indeed/ blowing up Eridium/ challenge accepted."_ Zero replied in haiku. It was a weird habit that he had and I wasn't sure if I wanted to ever ask him about it (not that I'd get an answer, anyway).

 _"Guess, I'm in as well. And Krieg is."_ Maya said. We all knew that Krieg would always stick with Maya. She was like 100% of his impulse control, so we could barely ever separate the two of them.

 _"I'll stay with Dukino then."_ Axton replied, not sounding too upset.

"Awesome. Make sure you have some water for us, because we are basically dying of thirst right now." I echoed back.

 _"Sure thing. The others are already heading off and Dukino's getting... uh... big."_

"Awww, he's gonna be so cute!" Gaige squealed.

 _"You can get a bomb cart from that depository. Shut the door at the end of the track before the bomb reaches it."_ Brick instructed the rest of the Vault Hunters, when we got closer to town again. The sun was burning insanely hot on our heads now and I was more than glad that I had borrowed (well, stolen) one of Mordecai's scarves and wrapped it around my head.

Thankfully we only encountered a few bandits on our way back to Axton. He sat on the floor, rubbing the skag's belly. And damn, Dukino had grown a lot. We were only gone for like an hour or so. I was surprised that Axton still had all his limbs.

 _"Ol' Rover here looks waaaay too big to sleep in that lil' shoebox anymore. You might wanna escort him to some new digs."_ Scooter echoed just as we approached. Dukino got up and ran ahead, while Axton just shrugged at us and started following him.

"Guess you're not getting a break." he shouted at us. I shook my head and started muttering some curses under my breath.

"Can you throw us the water, Axton?" Gaige said, running after him and Dukino, shotgun in hand. Axton nodded, got a flask that was clipped to his belt and threw it in Gaige's and my direction.

 _"Good goin'. Now grab the bomb."_ Brick echoed, just as Gaige failed to catch the water flask. I jumped ahead and managed to somehow catch it last minute.

"Thanks, Axton!" I shouted while he jogged ahead and casually shot some bandits on the way. It looked super easy when you watched him kill people. I let myself fall back and started chugging some of the water, before throwing the flask to Gaige. This time she managed to catch it.

 _"Damn, you're strong! Take it to the abandoned train tracks. You're gonna put it on a collision course with the Sheriff's Eridium train."_ Brick echoed. I looked over in the direction everyone else disappeared to and saw them coming back, Salvador carrying a whole damn bomb cart.

I focussed on catching up with Gaige and Axton again, firing a few shots at the bandits around me and holding my sides. They hurt from all the running.

 _"I had one of my Slabs set up a detonator for the bomb cart. Get to it before the train leaves!"_ Brick said to the rest of the team. I sure hope we're well away from the train tracks when that whole thing goes down.

 _"Lemme tell you somethin' about Brick. We snagged him during the fall of New Haven. He never sold out his friends, but his puppy... it was this little brown thing. Once I wrapped my hands around its neck, Brick lost it. You could barely hear the crack of the bone over his sobs. I mean, actual sobbing. Like a baby. It was pretty embarrassing."_ the sheriff said in her condescending tone over the ECHOnet.

"Axton, is he heading into the mines?" I shouted ahead, seeing the puppy run for a rock formation in front of us.

"I think so. We'll have to clear it out for him." he answered and then disappeared in the mines.

I caught up with Gaige just as she was running inside the mine. At this stage I could only follow them. Staying outside didn't seem like the best idea, especially with all the bandits around. It was as if they never stopped coming at us. I hoped the mine would be less infested with them, because I really needed to get some insta health. I felt how I was getting tired and dizzy and how my shoulder started hurting again.

 _"Don't hit the detonator until it's right on top of the train!"_ Brick echoed. He sounded really excited, but all I could think of was whether that explosion would collapse the mine or not. Being trapped in an Eridium mine wasn't a great way to go.

Psychos and midgets came running at us left, right and center as soon as we entered the mine and we just kept showering them with bullets. It was impossible to aim at them precisely and hit them just right, since they were all over the place and kept moving. The recoil from my gun was a bitch to deal with, but I would have to think of that later. If my shoulder hadn't killed me by then.

 _"You found a new cave for that hungry skag, huh? He looks pretty happy. Well, I mean, as happy as a mindless killin' machine with vertical jaws and a powerful hunger for flesh can be, anyway."_ Scooter said over the ECHO, while I was hiding behind a crate to reload.

"Did we get them all?" I asked and looked out from behind my cover. There was no one there, but Gaige, Axton and Dukino who was happy getting belly rubs from both of them.

"Yup. All good. Time to relax." Gaige said. I shook my head.

"We have to get out of here. The others are going to detonate the bomb any minute now. You don't wanna be down here when they do it." I replied, completely out of breath.

"Shit, you're right. Let's get back out there. I saw an elevator back there." Axton answered and got up. Gaige and I followed him and got the elevator going, just as the ground started to rumble a little. The rumbles were getting louder as we were hauled upwards and ran away from the mine entrance.

 _"Hell yeah! No more Eridium comin' outta Lynchwood now, that's for sure! Lemme know when you're ready for the next thing."_ Brick shouted triumphantly over the ECHO, as we more or less collapsed on the ground. I was panting and breathing heavily trying to get to a few health vials that I had on my belt pouch.

"That was... close." Gaige said, gasping for air.

 _"Gotta say, that's pretty irritating. The Eridium mine's half the reason this town exists. Well, credit where credit's due. You really know how to push my buttons."_ the sheriff echoed. She sounded slightly annoyed, when she said that, but she still had the same air of superiority in her voice that Jack had.

"Let's go and meet up at the bounty board, everyone." Axton told everyone over the ECHO. I had finally managed to get a few health needles and jammed three or four in my veins. I had kinda lost count on how many I had used, but at this stage I needed to be drugged up to function properly.

Gaige and Axton had gotten up by the time I was getting my last shot. They were standing over me, both holding out a hand to help me up. I took their hands and got up from the ground, empty health vials lying in the sand around me.

"You sure you're okay?" Gaige asked.

"I am now. Let's get back and finish this whole thing. Jack's girlfriend is really annoying me right now." I answered and followed them along back towards the town.

 _"Nova, are you alright? How's your shoulder?"_ Mordecai echoed me right as we reached the train tracks.

"I'm okay. All drugged up with health vials, don't worry about me." I replied. I was going to say more, but an announcement from the sheriff interrupted me.

 _"I hear that after Brick escaped our custody, he tracked down the guy who betrayed New Haven to Hyperion. Somebody named Shep Sanders. Brick gouged his eyes out with his thumbs and cracked his skull open like an egg, all while poor Shep screamed for mercy. Your friend Roland kicked him outta Sanctuary after that. You Vault Hunters think you're different from bandits. But you're not."_


	69. Chapter 68 or I Shot The Sheriff

_song: Eric Clapton - I Shot The Sheriff_

 _"You've ROBBED MY BANK, SHOT UP MY TOWN, and DESTROYED MY TRAIN!"_ we heard through our ECHOs. It was the sheriff again and it looked like she had a personal grudge against us now.

 _"Heh. I like you. Main street. Pistols at high noon. Come alone."_ she added. Okay, maybe she wasn't as pissed as she sounded at the beginning of this statement.

"Who's good with pistols?" Axton asked. We were looking around, trying to think who'd be best suited for the mission.

"Mordecai is good with pistols, but he's not here. I'm only average with pistols, only use them when I don't wanna log an arsenal around with me. Gaige is definitely ruled out as well." I replied.

"Why am I ruled out?" Gaige protested.

"You can't hit shit, Gaige." Maya answered instead of me.

"That... is true. Fine." she admitted.

"Krieg is out as well. That leaves myself, Axton, Zero and Sal." Maya said.

"I'm not great with pistols, but I'm alright, I suppose." Axton replied.

"Zero is better with rifles, honestly, and I'm kinda alright as well, I guess." Maya agreed.

"I can do it. I'm pretty good with them, actually." Salvador said out of the blue. I looked over at him, as he was grinning proudly. I never really picked Salvador for a pistol kind of person, but thinking about it, it kinda made sense.

"Cool, you'll go and duel her then. There's a few vending machines in town. Do we need anything else before we go?" Axton asked.

"I'm starting to run kinda low on health vials. Might need to get some of those. And ammo, obviously." I answered.

"Would it be a good plan for Zero and Nova to go and hide out in some buildings, so they can snipe from there, if something goes wrong? I don't trust that woman to play by the rules, honestly." Maya suggested.

"Good point. If we do that, then Zero and I should already go ahead and scout out the area for good vantage points." I said and looked over to Zero. He displayed a smiley face on his helmet, which I assumed meant that he agreed.

"Alright, you guys go and stock up on whatever you need and then head out. We'll be there when it's time." Axton said. I nodded and waited for Zero to join me, so we could make our way to the vending machines.

I wasn't sure if I should try to make small talk with Zero (if such a thing was possible at all) or if I should just endure the awkward silence. I wasn't really sure what would have more cringe potential.

"So, you need a lot of stuff from the vending machines?" I asked. I really was at a loss as to what to say to him.

"Just ammunition." he replied. I really had no idea what I was supposed to say to that, so I just started babbling. The silence made me more nervous than I wanted to admit and Zero didn't seem to ever ask any questions.

"So, how do you like Pandora?" I said. Thankfully we had reached the station at that stage, so I could just focus on the vending machines soon.

"Any other place/ would be just the same as this/ different through the Vault." he replied. I nodded and started paying a lot of attention to the vending machines. Zed had some nice shields, but I had just gotten a shiny new one and it was better than all the ones he had on offer right now. I got as many health vials as I could comfortably carry with me and then went over to Marcus' vending machine, stocking up on SMG ammo.

"So, why does the Vault make it different?" I asked, when I was done and we went to walk into the town to find some good spots to hide.

"It is a challenge/ worthy of all my talent/ keeps me entertained." he replied.

"Huh. Sounds legit, I guess..." I answered, just as some bandits started attacking us. I was actually quite grateful for that, because it meant I didn't have to think of conversation topics while we walked over.

Zero disappeared out of sight every few minutes and deployed some sort of decoy. It was fascinating to see him fight. He was using the decoy in an impressive way and I would have loved to actually focus on his fighting, but I was kind of distracted by psychos and midgets coming at me from all over the place.

At this point I didn't even bother to aim at them properly. With the way they were all over the place, there was no point to it. I just shot bullets from my SMG in their general direction, hoping for the best and hiding behind some wall while reloading. It would be easier to focus on the more sane bandits, once the psychos were out of the way.

I got a massive fright a few times when Zero suddenly appeared behind me out of nowhere and cut someone's head off, just before they were about to attack me. It was impressive and scary how fast he was, especially since none of us really knew who or what he was. He could probably easily kill all of us in our sleep if he wanted.

"You fought well creature / But I fought so much better / I'll pick your corpse now." Zero said to the bruiser that he had just killed, as he picked up some ammo that he had on him. I watched him, a little weirded out, but not too much.

"All those buildings seem good for sniping. If we can each empty one out that has a good view of the whole street, we should be good to go." I said to him. He nodded and pointed towards the left side of the street.

"I'll take this side, you take the other one." he said and disappeared, presumably into one of the houses. I checked the one that was right in front of me - seemed as good as any, really - and opened the door. It seemed to be empty, there were a few chairs lying around, some chests and some crates, but everything seemed to be in disrepair. I closed the door behind me and moved a few crates in front of it, just in case.

Then I quickly went up the stairs. There was a big window there that gave me a wonderful view of most of the main street and also provided some good cover. It was perfect. I put down my backpack and got my sniper rifle ready, before echoing the others.

"I'm in position."

 _"Good, Zero just echoed as well. Let's do this."_ Axton answered promptly. It didn't take long until I saw them walking along the main street, Salvador in front with his pistol, and the rest in the back.

"Howdy, partner!" I suddenly heard from a rooftop opposite me. I looked through my scope and saw a thin, tall woman in jeans, leather jacket and a cowboy hat standing on the roof, smiling down at the Vault Hunters and aiming her pistol at them.

"I told you to come alone! Get 'em, boys!" she shouted, as soon as she saw the rest of them. Out of whatever corners a bunch of Marshals appeared, together with a guy that looked like he would rather be anywhere else. That had to be Deputy Winger. He seemed reasonable enough. As soon as they came out of hiding, the Marshals opened fire on everyone and it was nearly impossible to see the sheriff.

"She's up on the roof, you'll have to get through the Marshals first." I echoed the rest of the group. They were taking care of the Marshals that were closer to them, so I checked the area until I could find one that was close enough.

I had to try three times until I actually managed to hit him critically. They had some sort of armour on which was difficult to pierce. After that, I saw Deputy Winger. He was shooting, but missing all the time...

"Don't shoot the Deputy! He's missing you on purpose, it seems." I told them. Most of the Marshals were dead by now and we could focus on the sheriff now. She was still hiding up on the roof, but Salvador did a good job at hitting her. Zero and I helped, while the rest kept some stray bandits and some newly emerging Marshals in check.

It didn't take long for Salvador to hit her fatally. All we could hear from her was some gurgling sounds, when she collapsed. I watched for a while through my scope, but she didn't get up anymore.

 _"She dead?"_ Salvador asked.

"Yup. She's dead." I answered him and got up from my cover. I looked down and saw the Deputy shaking, shivering and falling to his knees. Poor man. He must have been scared to death under her tyranny.

 _"Wait-wait, did you... actually just kill my girlfriend? That's kinda pissing me off. Hm."_ I heard Jack say through my ECHO. What an asshole. He didn't even seem upset about us killing her. She probably meant nothing to him, just like his daughter.

I decided to climb down the facade of the house I was hiding out in. I was just too lazy to move the crates again, so I climbed down some wooden carvings with my sniper rifle on my back to meet up with the rest of the team.

I walked up to the Deputy who seemed to be really badly shaken from what happened. It was like he had just been broken out of a prison after years of torture. He was on his knees still, shaking and crying and breathing heavily.

"Are you okay?" I asked him. He nodded slowly.

"Yeah, she... she was insane, absolutely insane..." he replied, shaking his head.

"It's okay. It's over now." I said.

"Oh God. Oh God, thank you." he answered, completely out of my breathe. It was then that my ECHO turned on.

 _"That's that, then. Come on back."_ Brick said, sounding somewhat tired and defeated.


	70. Chapter 69 or Plan B

_song: The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up_

 _"People of Pandora... my daughter is dead. Murdered. By the Vault Hunter. So I've decided, I'm rescinding the bounty on the Vault Hunter. If you should kill that child-murdering sonofabitch before I do, I will find you. And you will regret denying me my vengeance."_

I was strapping a pouch to my leg tightly, while Jack was teasing the Vault Hunters. They were on their way to Eridium Blight to check if they could get through to the Arid Nexus, but we were all pretty pessimistic about it.

Brick had made a backup plan in which I would apparently join if necessary. I had no idea what that plan was, but it apparently involved A LOT of shooting, judging from all the ammo he told me to take.

"Are they there yet?" I asked.

"Almost, they're pretty close." Mordecai answered. He looked over at me and gave me a small smile, but with a hint of bitterness in it. We still had no clue what was going on with Lilith - whether she was even still alive - and where the Vault was that Jack planned to open. And we would really need all that information to stop him.

"Ah, there they are. They just made it into the Blight." Brick commented. I shivered a little thinking back to the last time I had been there. Just after I escaped the prison and just before New Haven.

"Welcome to the Eridium Blight. Before Hyperion, this place was... heh, well, still a craphole, but it wasn't THIS bad." Mordecai echoed the Vault Hunters. They were heading along the only street in the area and I knew there would be a few bandit camps along the way. They shouldn't be getting into too much difficulty, if they just drove past them. They seemed to be moving along pretty fast.

 _"Okay, we're there and there's one massive gate. What do we do?"_ Maya said. I was busy tying the laces of my combat boots as tightly as possible to really pay attention to what was happening.

"How about you try and go through it?" Mordecai answered.

 _"You really think we can just go and walk through there?"_ Maya asked in disbelief. Mordecai just shrugged.

"I mean, it's worth a try. What's the worst that can happen?" he replied.

 _"I dunno, we could die?"_

"The worst they'll do is bring out some turrets. You've dealt with turrets many times. You'll be just fine."

 _"Well, if you say so."_

It didn't take long until we could hear a robotic voice saying: _"Intruders detected. Locking path to Info Stockade."_

"Dammit! Jack doesn't want us getting close to him. Brick, you got a plan to get to the Stockade?" Mordecai asked.

"Who would've thought?" I mumbled, finishing my preparations just in the right moment. Brick shrugged.

"Blow stuff up, that's my plan. Vault Hunter: get to Sawtooth Cauldron." he said and then looked at me.

"I'm good to go, Brick. Sawtooth Cauldron for me as well?" I asked. He nodded. I went over to Mordecai and gave him a tight hug. He lightly kissed my forehead and put two health vials into my hands.

"They're my last ones, you should take them." he said.

"But, Mordy..."

"No but. You need them more than I do. I can get new ones from Zed soon. You take them and you use them. Don't wait too long. Promise?"

"Fine. Promise. See you in a bit." I said and gave him a reassuring smile. I hoped I would be back in a bit, at least. I packed away the two health vials as I walked downstairs and towards Pierce Station.

 _"My boys can blast open the path to the Info Stockade, but they'll need some better firepower. You're gonna steal some explosives for 'em."_ Brick echoed, just as I got to the Fast Travel Station. I remembered waking up on the floor here not too long ago, with a concussion and a bleeding shoulder. I focussed on putting the code for Sawtooth Cauldron into the Fast Travel System.

 _"To get to where the Sawtooth bandits are keepin' the bombs, you gotta go through Guano Grotto. You'll have to push through a buttload of Sawteeth, but hell - wouldn't be any fun otherwise, right?"_ Brick said just as I materialised. I looked around me and saw the other Vault Hunters weren't far from me.

"Guys, I just got to Sawtooth Cauldron, I'm on the way to your position, will you wait for me?" I asked them over the ECHO.

 _"Sure, you know where to go?"_ Maya echoed back.

"Yup, got the location marked on my map. Heading there now, see you in a bit." I answered and started lightly jogging towards Guano Grotto. I'd meet the others on the way, since they were heading the same direction.

 _"My Slabs have been fightin' the Sawteeth for years. These bastards handed dozens of Vault Hunters to Jack once the pay got good enough. You kill 'em all, Vault Hunter. And you smile while you do it."_ Brick reminisced over the ECHO. He sounded very happy about sending us to Sawtooth Cauldron in general.

"Hey, hey, hey, who do we have here?" I heard someone say to my left. I didn't even need to look to know it was Salvador. I could recognize that accent anywhere. The bandits' settlements were just in front of us and I just knew it would be a terrible fight, when I saw how many little corners and huts there were all over the place.

"Y'all ready?" Maya asked, when she arrived.

"I suppose so. I can already hear them jumping out of some corners right behind us." I replied. It had been over 5 years since that incident with the bandits capturing me, but I still hadn't learnt from it.

"Well, let's get it over with. Guano Grotto isn't too far. We can probably do it fairly quickly." Axton said, loading his gun. I got my shotgun ready for action and nodded at him. We walked towards the Grotto and the first bandits noticed us.

I shot one of the psychos running at me in the face, which instantly killed him and also sprayed a good bit of his blood in my face. I was reloading quickly as I saw both a midget and a bruiser coming at me. I quickly took out the midget and fired a shot at the bruiser, but that one shot didn't kill him. I stumbled backwards, as I was reloading, trying to move out of the way as much as possible until I could finally blow his brains out.

Once he was gone, I hid behind some crates and waited for some of the Sawtooth bandits to move past me, so I could take them out from behind, while the rest of the team kept them busy. We quickly saw that that strategy worked fairly well and got into Guano Grotto in almost no time at all.

 _"You've gotta steal some Y-94 Odomo charges if you wanna get into the Info Stockade and find the Warrior. Take the elevator to get to where they store 'em."_ Brick informed us when we got inside. Everyone seemed pretty confused by that, but thankfully I knew my explosives and had a good idea what Brick was talking about.

"I gotcha, Brick. I'll find them." I told him as we moved through the Grotto. If I was honest, this place was worse for fighting than Lynchwood. Maya got to the elevator first and saw that it was locked.

"Aww, look, everybody! It's a witty-bitty Slab tryin' ta use our elevator! GET 'EM!" someone screamed at us. A huge group of bandits came running at us from all sides. Salvador started laughing maniacally and shooting people left, right and center with his two guns, while Maya froze anyone that came too close, so I could blast their heads off with my shotgun. Deathtrap started tearing through bandits, Krieg set himself on fire and just ran at whoever he could find. It was chaotic and beautiful at the same time and there was so much blood.

 _"Hmmm - looks like the elevator's not moving. You gotta piss Mortar off so he'll take the elevator down... The Boombringer! Mortar's prized buzzard - go find it."_ Brick said. We started fighting our way back, so we could get to the Main Street Reservoir.

 _"Ahhhhh, this takes me back. Last time I was here, I had Tiny Tina ridin' piggyback, right, throwin' grenades at the Sawteeth while I punched 'em into red mist. The looks on their faces - ahahahahah! Ohh, I have killed a lot of people."_ he said in a weirdly nostalgic tone, while we kept killing bandits. They just never stopped coming for some reason.

 _"Hey, do me a favor. You think about how all of Roland's training, all his experience counted for nothing once he met me. And ask yourself, if I could kill the wise leader of the Crimson Raiders without breaking a sweat, how hard will it be to kill a psychotic bandit king and a drunken frickin' sniper?"_ Jack echoed us all once we were almost through the reservoir.

 _"Unghhh... I can feel this thing around my neck sapping me dry. Promise me - so long as there's a bullet left in your gun, promise me you'll make Jack pay!"_ Lilith promptly replied to that, her voice sounding anguished. It made me feel sick to hear her like that, but I was glad to know she was alive.


	71. Chapter 70 or Badassitude

_song: Cage The Elephant - Ain't No Rest For The Wicked_

 _"I wanna be clear about something. This isn't about Pandora anymore. It's about you... and me. I can never replace what you took from me. But murdering your Vault Hunter pals? Destroying that flying city? Hell - that's a start."_ Jack taunted us through the ECHO. I kept trying to just ignore it and not let it get to me, but all his talking about killing us or Lilith or Mordecai or Brick or anyone really was eating at me.

 _"How about I start with Mordecai's little bitch? Or would that be unfair, after killing his stupid bird?"_ I heard next. I was looking around to see if anyone else had noticed it, but they seemed to be focused on fighting. Was... was Jack talking just to me? To freak me out or something? I wouldn't put it beyond him...

 _"I watched Mordecai a lot, you know? He may be a drunken loser, but he never kept Bloodwing in a cage. Never even raised his voice at her. Funny thing? You wanna destroy a man, you don't need to kill him. You just need to kill what he loves."_ he said next with a mocking laugh. I felt some panic rising inside me and started getting distracted. I almost got a bullet straight in my face, if it hadn't been for Maya taking the bandit out beforehand. Fuck. I let him get to me.

"Are you okay? You gotta keep moving!" she told me.

"Did you get the ECHO messages from Jack?" I asked.

"The one about killing us all?"

"No, no, after that." I replied, hearing the panic in my own voice. He was winning. He was getting to me.

"There were none after that. Did you get any after that?" Maya wanted to know. I nodded. She sighed.

"Shit. He's getting to you. Don't listen to him. Can you block that frequency?" she said. I looked down at my ECHO recorder.

 _"Scared, Mordecai?"_ Jack asked in a condescending voice through the ECHO. Maya took the ECHO out of my hand and muted Jack's frequency.

"There. Don't worry too much. We're here with you, he can't get to you. We gotta go to the hangar, okay? Come on." she said.

 _"You better fucking shut up right now, Jack..."_ I heard Mordecai growl through the ECHO, but I couldn't hear anything from Jack's side anymore. Which was kind of a relief, but it also made me a little nervous. Not nearly as nervous as him making threats at me directly, but still. I kind of wanted to know whether he was just bluffing or not.

 _"There's nothin Mortar loves more than his buzzard, Boombringer. If you destroy it, he'll be so pissed he'll have to ride the elevator down to take revenge on ya."_ Brick said. As I looked ahead I saw that Salvador and Axton had opened up the hangar and were running inside. Maya and I were trailing behind.

I felt quite embarrassed about that little panic attack I had. I thought I had managed to put that behind me, but when Jack started making specific threats it was as if I was right back in New Haven with everything burning next to me and people dying and screaming and I was just clueless and didn't know what was going on.

 _"Blast Boombringer to bits. Mortar won't be happy to see his buzzard go up in smoke, so he'll take the elevator down to fight ya."_ Brick told us. Brick talking us through the mission was helping a little to get me back into reality, before my mind could go to the Wildlife Preserve and completely black out.

"Who wants to do the honours?" Axton asked.

"I think Nova could do with blowing something up right now." Maya said.

"You got some grenades on you, chica?" Salvador asked with a big grin.

"Uh... yeah. Are you sure you wanna let me do this?" I replied.

"You need to snap back into the present right about now, so yeah. A good explosion should do the trick." Maya answered. I nodded and got some grenades that were hooked onto my belt next to my ammo pouch.

 _"Oh, and after you blast Boombringer, don't look at the explosion - just walk away from it! You'll look like such a badass."_ Brick added quickly.

"Y'all might wanna step away from this. A little." I told them. They went ahead a few steps as I tossed about three grenades into the hangar and turned my back to it, briskly walking towards the others.

We started walking away towards the elevator again, as the explosion went off behind us. It was really difficult not to look back at it, but it also felt insanely badass to just walk away without looking. It made me feel kinda proud of myself and Maya was right - it also made me feel more grounded, if that was the right way to put it.

 _"That Slab just blew up my buzzard without even lookin' at the explosion! But I - I ain't scared - I'm comin' down and YOU'RE GONNA DIE!"_ we heard someone complaining loudly over the ECHO.

 _"Sounds like you can take the elevator now. Feel free to kill Mortar on your way up."_ Brick said with a laugh.

We quickly made our way back to the elevator where this Mortar character was already waiting for us. He had some weird looking orange clothes on and seemed indeed really pissed. In his own insane way.

"I want that Slab's head in my digestive tract!" he screamed at us.

"Ew." Gaige said and looked at me. As soon as he had said it, he dropped dead and fell flat on his face. Behind him stood Zero who cleaned his blade casually.

"That. That was fucking cool." Gaige commented.

 _"Ahh. You really are the best Slab ever."_ Brick told us and sounded really genuinely touched. He must have held quite the grudge against this Mortar guy.

"Alright. Up we go, I suppose." I said.

"This thing doesn't look very safe." Maya commented as she scrutinized the elevator. Everyone looked at her slightly weirded out.

"I mean, we are on Pandora, what do you expect?" Salvador replied.

"Oh, come on, even for Pandora that's pretty awful." Maya said.

"Well, whatever guys, let's take this thing all the way up the tower." Gaige said and jumped onto the platform. We all followed her and soon noticed that we would be pretty crammed up on the small platform.

"Cozy." Axton commented, as the elevator started moving. It started out slow, but soon it picked up speed and was flying upwards. If I was honest, it was a pretty scary experience going up at that speed.

The ride still took quite some time, which meant we were pretty high up, as soon as we saw some daylight again. We could basically look out over all of Sawtooth Cauldron and some of the Arid Nexus even.

"Wow. What a view." Salvador commented.

 _"My boys are gonna come in and steal the explosives, but the skies gotta be clear first. Take out those buzzards."_ Brick said. We saw a few buzzards flying above us and coming in closer and closer.

"Ah... I think it's time." Salvador said with a big grin on his face. Axton gave him a big smile as well.

"Time for what?" I asked. Salvador got something from his back. It was huge. It was a fucking rocket launcher.

"Oh. My. God. This is amazing." I said, when I realized what it was. Rocket launchers were really damn cool, I just always thought they were too heavy to log around with me on a constant basis, but it seemed Salvador was good with that. He took out the first two guys with two shots each and then had to reload, which unfortunately took quite a while with a rocket launcher. We spent the time avoiding the shots from the buzzards.

 _"Man, why don't these guys just give up? You already killed their boss! Idiots."_ Brick commented with a sour voice.

Salvador had finished reloading and went to take out the last two guys quickly. He managed to shoot them out of the sky pretty quickly, which was fairly impressive to watch, if I was being honest.

 _"Cool. Now mark those crates for pickup and my boys'll come get 'em. They'll need those charges to blast open the path to the Info Stockade."_ Brick said. Just as he finished that sentence I could hear the noise of buzzards coming in to pick up the crates.

"There they are, everyone!" Gaige called out and pointed towards the sky. There were four buzzards approaching quickly.

 _"My boys are comin' in!"_ Brick warned us, as they came down to pick up the crates. It went over pretty quickly and they were off again soon.

"Well done! Just jump off the east end of the tower if you wanna get back to the fast-travel station in the quickest and badassest way possible." Brick told us next. I looked at Salvador and saw a happy grin on his face.

"VAMOS!" he screamed and started running towards the edge. I followed him and the rest of us did, too. I had already jumped before I could realize how scarily high the tower was.

 _"Slab, did you - did you just jump off The Buzzard's Nest?! God DAMN you make me proud!"_ Brick echoed, as we were quickly falling.


	72. Chapter 71 or Color Blind

_song: The Black Keys - Howlin' For You_

The fall did kind of hurt, but it wasn't too bad. Maybe that was due to all the health vials I had been injecting. I was afraid it would hurt more after I had jumped and saw how high up we had actually been. It took a good while until the ringing in my ears was gone, though, and I could hear everything properly again.

By that time we had already fast travelled back to the Eridium Blight and were standing in front of the gateway to the Arid Nexus. I didn't know what the actual plan was, because I heard everything as if it was far away for ages, so I just followed the rest of the group, hoping we would get back to Sanctuary soon.

 _"Keep your head down, Slab - my boys are startin' their run!"_ I heard Brick through the ECHO and had just about recovered enough common sense to move away from the door as quickly as possible.

Not long after I saw the buzzards dropping down some of the crates and the whole damn gate blew into tiny pieces. It was an impressive explosion, but didn't help the ringing in my ears. I was pushed back by the force of the explosion and fell flat on my ass. I looked around and realized that everyone else fell, too. At least I wasn't the only one looking like a fucking dumbass. I really missed Lilith calling me that.

 _"That ought to do it - the way to the Info Stockade is open. Get in there, and find out where Jack's got Lilith and the Warrior. While you're doin' that, I'm gonna pay a visit to a Hyperion outpost - see if I can't steal some heavy armor for our final assault on Jack."_ Brick said, as we slowly walked through the gate and found ourselves on the way to the Boneyard in the Arid Nexus.

"We should probably get some rest in Sanctuary, before we go any further. Plus, Mordecai has to update us all on the mission." Axton suggested.

"I'm all for it." I agreed.

"Yeah, gotta stock up on some ammo and what not." Maya said as well.

 _"Hey, are you alright? You gonna get back to Sanctuary soon? I've got something for you to do, if you want."_ Mordecai echoed me.

"Sounds good. We'll be back soon. I gotta shoot up some health vials." I replied. I had gotten so used to using them lately. My shoulder was healing up pretty slowly (mostly because I didn't rest as much as I should be resting), which meant I needed more and more health vials. But now wasn't the time to take it easy.

"Come on, let's get back. I wanna finish this douchebag as soon as possible." Gaige shouted all the way from the travel station. I dragged myself over there together with everyone else. I was absolutely exhausted.

I barely realized being dematerialized and rematerialized back in Sanctuary, I was that tired. We made our way back to HQ and got the odd funny look on the way there. You'd think people would get used to us being full of blood and goo and whatnot when we made our way through town, especially considering the fact we were in the middle of a full-blown war, but they always seemed to be surprised.

We passed the news stand that was distributing the Hyperion ECHOcasts. It was really fucking weird, that they would have that crap in the middle of Sanctuary. I had no clue whose idea it was to try and sell them here of all places. And I also didn't know why I decided to just pick up the latest one and listen to it.

 _"And now, for the latest edition of This Just In, with Hunter Hellquist."_ the annoying voice of the news broadcaster came from the ECHO recorder. Half the group turned around to me, looking annoyed.

"Why are you listening to that douchebag?" Maya asked. I shrugged.

"No idea. Guess, I was just kinda curious what Hyperion had to say about us. They make up the weirdest shit and I just enjoy complaining about it. I dunno." I replied. I really had no idea why I did this to myself. Maybe I was some sort of masochist.

 _"This is Hyperion Truth Broadcasting. Ladies and gentlemen, we have won! With the death of Roland and the capture of Lilith, the resistance is no more. Their remaining forces are divided, confused, demoralized. Once for all, Handsome Jack has proven his moral and intellectual superiority over the bandit hordes. This is Hunter Hellquist saying that Pandora is finally safe. Pandora is finally free."_ Hunter Hellquist babbled.

"What a fucking lying trash can!" Gaige mumbled.

"I really fucking hate them." I agreed and put the ECHO recorder away with a sigh. I had a feeling it wouldn't be a great idea to listen to it and it wasn't. But at least we had finally made it all the way to HQ.

We all mumbled some sort of greeting, once we got inside and were greeted by the sight of Tannis leaning over her research table, dark rings under her eyes. She didn't even answer or look up at us, but that was normal for her at that stage. We were all tired, so it must have looked really pathetic when we dragged ourselves upstairs.

I let myself fall down onto the couch and got some health vials from my belt pouches. I checked my arm for a proper vein and injected the healing substance into it. It was getting difficult to find good enough veins, because I had punctured so many of them at this stage. I had little wounds from it all over my arm.

"Everyone alright?" Brick asked as everyone plopped down on chairs, beds or the floor. He gave us a big smile.

"Yeah, just very tired. That was pretty exhausting." Maya answered.

"Yeah, y'all kinda look like shit. No offense." Brick agreed. Mordecai sat down next to me on the couch just as I was finished with the first health vial. At the beginning one had been enough, but by now I already needed two to get me through the day without my shoulder hurting. He took my arm and looked at the small spots of dried blood.

"Looks pretty bad. You sure you don't wanna relax and sit the next one out?" he asked me. I shook my head.

"Now's not the time. I can take a break when Jack is dead and Hyperion is gone." I answered and started injecting the second vial.

"You seem pretty annoyed about something." Mordecai stated. I nodded and handed him the ECHO recorder that I just picked up from the news stand.

"You been listening to those Hyperion newscasts that say you're killing kids and kicking puppies?" he asked me in disbelief. I just nodded.

"Well, I guess you're gonna like the job I picked out for you then. I found the guy who's recording 'em. The newscasts. He's in the Arid Nexus. Pay him a visit and set the record straight. That sound like something you'd like to do?" he asked.

"Yeah. That actually sounds like I'd enjoy it very much. You coming with me?" I wanted to know. He nodded.

"I can come with you, as long as we go later today. Tomorrow I'll have to stay behind in Sanctuary, since everyone will be out on missions. Are you up for it?" he asked me. I grinned and nodded.

"Hell, yeah. It's been a while since we went off on an adventure together. I miss those times." I said. Mordecai smiled at me and let go of my arm.

"I miss them, too. Remember when we got drunk and raided that bandit camp? After I broke into your house?" he asked with a grin on his face.

"Well, I only remember parts of it." I replied and laughed.

"You two are so cute." Brick chimed in with a smile on his face.

"Oh, shut up, Brick." Mordecai replied, trying to sound as if he was annoyed. He didn't manage to do that.

"Hey, Mordy, can you get me some water from that red box over there?" I said and gestured to a corner full of random boxes. I was super thirsty and I really needed some water. Mordecai looked at me a little insecure and then nodded. He went over to the boxes and promptly opened a green one.

"No... The red one." I repeated. He slowly moved on to another green box and gave me a questioning look. I shook my head.

"Mordy, red. Those ones are green." I said. He pointed at a different green box, clearly at a loss as to which one I meant. This was weird.

"Mordy, what are you, color blind or something?" I asked and laughed a little, as I got up to get the water myself.

"I actually am." he admitted sheepishly. I looked at him, blinking a few times. Of all possible answers, this was not the one I was expecting.

"Wait... what? Are you actually color blind? You're not screwing with me or something?"

"No, I'm not. I'm really color blind. Have been since birth." Mordecai said with a sigh.

"Shit, I... I didn't know. Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"It's not really that important. I mean, it doesn't make much of a difference, normally. And people usually don't notice."

"I can't believe I've known you for well over five years now and you never told me you were colour blind!"

"Well, it never was that big of a deal, really. I mean, you never noticed until now, have you?" he replied and shrugged. I guess he was right.


	73. Chapter 72 or Hyperion Truth

_song: KONGOS - Take It From Me_

Being back in the Arid Nexus with Mordecai felt strange. There were all the old familiar places that we both knew from the time before Hyperion, but so much had changed. Hyperion had built a whole lot of Eridium pipelines and pumping stations all over the place. Few of the old places were still standing.

Fyrestone was still around, but there were puddles of slag and it was depressingly decayed. More than before. Earlier we had passed TK Baha's old house which was still standing. His crops had withered, though. Poor old TK Baha. Now that we had passed his house, I kinda missed him. He was always up for a chat.

Earlier on I had gotten an ECHO from Lilith, but she didn't say anything. There was just a strange gurgling noise and then the transmission was cut off. It was weird and had me really worried about her. I just knew that Jack was doing something to her and I didn't like it one bit. He was an absolute monster.

"You alright?" Mordecai asked me.

"I'm fine." I replied. I wasn't. And judging from the look he gave me, Mordecai knew.

"You're worried about Lil?" he said.

"Well, aren't you? Of course I am. I don't even wanna imagine what Jack's doing to her!" I answered.

"I know, I know. I'm worried about her, too. And about you. And everyone else, really. It's high time we finish this once and for all." he replied.

"Yeah, it just... It seems like it's such an effort already and we haven't even gotten close to Jack." I said with a sigh. Mordecai stopped walking and carefully took his goggles off. He put his hands on my shoulders and pulled me closer, so I'd look at him.

"Are you panicking again?" he asked. I glanced to the ground.

"Maybe. A little." I finally replied.

"Look at me." he said. And I did. His eyes were as deep and brown as ever, even though they seemed a little glazed over and not as lively as they used to. Some wrinkles had formed around his eyes. Guess I wasn't the only one getting old.

"We'll get through this, okay? We're going to finish this, we're going to finish Jack and we're going to fucking finish Hyperion. You're a beautiful, strong woman and..."

He stopped immediately, suddenly seeming pretty self-conscious. Was he... was he going to say what I thought he'd say?

"And... what?" I asked cautiously.

"Nothing. Let's go kill that little douche up in his tower, okay?" he replied. I nodded, smiling a little.

Mordecai let go of me and put his goggles back on. We both readied our weapons and moved out of our hiding spot. There didn't seem to be anyone around really, so we quickly moved over to the Hyperion Truth Network station. The building was weirdly out in the open and I was surprised it wasn't protected better.

There was a narrow elevator that lead up to the little container up on the platform, which was presumably where the newscasts were being recorded. It was a weird feeling to just be able to go up there so easily. It was like nothing and no one was even trying to stop us from getting there. Maybe Jack was just as annoyed by this Hellquist guy as we were and that's why he made him an easy target.

"Ready, chica?" Mordecai asked, his hand on the button of the elevator.

"Yup." I answered, as I loaded up my shotgun. Mordecai pressed the button and the metal construction started moving upwards in perfect silence. Well, it wasn't really perfect silence, but it was silent enough not to be noticed.

When we got up onto the platform it was still eerily silent. No one seemed to notice us or seemed to care that we were there. No one seemed to be even aware of us, which was odd. We were talking about Hyperion after all. And from my own experience with contract kills, it was difficult to go unnoticed like this. Even amongst bandit clans.

"We should split up. There are two doors to this container thing. I'll take one door, you take the other one and we should be able to take him down fairly quickly before anyone else notices us." Mordecai said.

"Sounds like a good idea." I replied. Mordecai nodded and walked around the container to the other end of it.

 _"This just in, Pandora - the bandit scum who killed Jack's daughter has just set the Old Haven orphanage ablaze, and..."_ we could hear over our ECHOs, just as I was about to open the door. It distracted me for a second, but then I quickly pressed the button. The doors were opening and Hunter Hellquist stopped talking.

He was standing at his ECHO console recording and turned towards me, as the doors opened. I quickly stepped inside the container. For a moment, he seemed to be in shock, then disbelief. He was a smallish, bald man, wearing sunglasses and strangely coloured clothes. He quickly gathered himself.

"It's you! Die, bandit scum!" he screamed and hammered into his console, just before trying to run. Mordecai shot at him, and managed to take out his shield, but he was still alive. He turned the other way to try and run past me.

 _"Reinforcements requested at Hyperion Truth Network. Deploying."_ a robotic voice said from the console. Shit. This was what we wanted to avoid. I fired my shotgun at him and blasted his head into a thousand little pieces.

"He got the reinforcements!" I screamed, more because I started panicking once again. Of course, Mordecai knew already. There were tremors from moonshots landing closeby and I could hear the voices of the loaderbots coming our way.

"We can finish them off, doesn't seem like there's lots of them." Mordecai replied and turned around to shoot the arm off one of the bots coming his way. I loaded up my shotgun again and did the same, while wishing I had a weapon ready that didn't take as long to reload. But it was what it was now.

We had them all finished off pretty quickly and went back into the little container. There was some nice stuff lying around - shields, guns, cash. Three ECHO recorders caught my attention. I wondered what was on them. When I looked up again, I saw that Mordecai had noticed them as well.

"You wanna listen to them? I mean, they're probably a load of bullshit." he said. I picked up the recorder and looked at it.

"Yeah, but you know how I love snooping in other people's business. And it's kinda our business. In a way." I replied and shrugged. The recorder seemed to be a bit older, and it was scratched and dusty. I pressed the play button on it.

 _"Today marks a historic occasion, listeners - the day order came to Pandora. After heroically opening the Vault and destroying the evil inside, our beloved leader Handsome Jack dispatched miners, surveyors, soldiers and engineers to the savage border planet. Jack wishes to assure the populace that Hyperion will bring peace and order to the lawless hell that Pandora has become. Bandits? Psychos? These will be a thing of the past. With Hyperion in charge, Pandora can look forward to a very bright future, indeed."_

"Told ya it was bullshit." Mordecai commented, as he counted the cash he had picked up. I reached for the second recorder and listened to the message on it.

 _"Trouble on the borderworlds, listeners - Hyperion Truth Network has learned that, less than a week after Hyperion's arrival on Pandora, factions of murderous bandits are doing their damndest to terrorize Hyperion peacekeepers and sew chaos across Pandora. These pathetic bandits claim to have opened the Vault - should you encounter these terrorists, report them to Hyperion at once!"_

"Why are you listening to that? They're only going to upset you, chica." Mordecai asked when the message had finished playing. I shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe I like tormenting myself. It's like hearing messages from this weird parallel universe that is somehow completely warped and twisted, you know?" I replied and picked up the last recorder.

"You're a weird one."

"I know, you told me before. I just like to know what they're saying about us. I mean, peacekeepers? Sheesh.", I said and pressed play on the last recorder. This was honestly more ridiculous than upsetting.

 _"Today, Hyperion stuck a great blow against the bandit hordes of Pandora. The terrorist stronghold of New Haven is in ashes. Thanks to the work of a courageous informant known as Shep Sanders, Hyperion infiltrated the town shortly before daybreak this morning. The Hyperion troops - led, of course, by Handsome Jack - managed to capture the bandit known as Brick, and execute the terrorist witch known as Lilith. Today is truly... a great day."_

I put the ECHO recorder down with a sigh. Mordecai was right, this one did upset me. And I had no idea why I was listening to Hyperion's bullshit at all, but something about it just fascinated me. Like an accident, where you didn't want to stare, but just couldn't look away.

"You happy now?" Mordecai asked. I shook my head.

"Not really."

"Upset?" he wanted to know. I nodded sheepishly.

"A little, I suppose. We ready to go?" I replied. He sighed and gave me a warm smile.

"You just don't learn, do you? Let's go then. Things should be a lot easier for us without that windbag spoutin' lies every day."


	74. Chapter 73 or More on Jack

_song: Foreigner - Lowdown And Dirty_

"So we all good with the plan?" Mordecai asked again. Nods all around. But I hadn't heard anything about my role or Brick's role in this whole mission.

"What will Brick and I do?" I said.

"Brick will head to the Hyperion outpost and see if he can get some heavy equipment. And you'll be going with the rest of the team to the Arid Nexus, but you'll be picking up some files for me." he replied.

"Why do you need files?" I asked. Mordecai never had much of a knack for paperwork, so I was surprised he would send me to get files of all things.

"Never hurts to know more about the man you're killing. So while you're in the Nexus, grab whatever files you can on Jack. Is that okay?" he explained. I nodded. Sounded like an easy enough task that wouldn't exhaust my supply of health vials.

"Alright then. We've gotta find out where the Warrior is buried. We find that, we find Lilith - and Jack. That kind of data could only be held in one place: the Hyperion Info Stockade. Head to the Arid Nexus." he said in conclusion. We had heard the plan a million times, but having it repeated over and over kinda made all of us feel a little more confident each time we heard it. We were all ready to go at this point and quickly cleared out of HQ and were on our way to Pierce Station.

"I'm nervous. Has anyone ever been in the Info Stockade?" Gaige asked on the way there, while she was fiddling with one of her gun holsters.

"I have. It really wasn't that bad, just very messy." I replied.

"Really?"

I was about to answer when I started feeling this weird Fast Travel feeling, just before you get dematerialized. The next moment we were standing in the Arid Nexus.

 _"You see that building with the light shootin' out of it? That's the Info Stockade. We're gonna get you there through the main Eridium pipeline - head there now."_ Mordecai instructed us over the ECHO.

"Did you go through the pipeline as well?" Gaige asked. I nodded and grimaced when I remembered being trapped inside the pipeline. Gaige didn't seem too happy about it herself. But thankfully this time I didn't have to go to the Stockade again. I would be off searching all the little Hyperion outposts that were spreading all over the Nexus. No bathing in liquid Eridium for me this time.

 _"There should be a ladder on the side of the pipe leading to a maintenance hatch. You can use that to get inside the pipeline. It'll be messy, but it'll lead you to the stockade."_ Mordecai told them. I looked back at them and they didn't seem to be too happy about having to crawl through the pipeline.

I wandered off towards a group of little makeshift huts and figured they were as good a place as any to start. Mordecai had sent me some locations of general areas in which he had found signals from ECHO recorders. One of those was somewhere around the little huts that I was heading towards.

I slowly made my way into one of the huts. There were a few JNK Loaders around, but I managed to slip into one of the huts without them noticing me. And it seemed like I had really hit the jackpot with that hut, because there was an ECHO recorder and several boxes full of ammunition and weapons and cash. I took the recorder and played it, while stocking up on ammo and cashing in.

 _"I don't understand, daddy."_ I could hear the voice of a young girl saying. Strange. I was about to turn off the recording, thinking it wasn't related to Jack, when I heard him answering.

 _"Say hello to your new home, darling. You're like a little princess, and this is your throne!"_

 _"I want mommy. Where's mommy?"_ she said, sounding pretty distressed.

 _"She's not coming back, Angel. Now get in the freaking chair!"_

 _"I don't want to!"_

 _"Get - there we go - in the chair!"_

I gulped audibly and packed the recorder into my backpack. That was disturbing to say the least. And it extinguished any guilt I felt over killing Jack's daughter. I had some hope left, that he might have actually loved her, but that was gone. The poor thing sounded so scared, it broke my heart.

"Mordy, did... did you hear that?" I echoed back to Sanctuary.

 _"I did. Just keep going, okay? There should be around four more, according to the signals I'm picking up."_

When he said that I heard some screaming through the ECHO, as well as some swearing. Something must have gone wrong with the Eridium pipeline it seemed.

 _"God DAMMIT! You okay? Rrgh - looks like the ladder's busted. Still, the pipe looks cracked - I bet if you raised the pressure, you could blast the pipe wide open, get inside that way... Yeah... head to one of the pumping stations."_ Mordecai echoed the rest of the group. There were some JNK loaders just passing by the little hut I was hiding in and I hoped they wouldn't get suspicious from the noise.

 _"Slab! Mordecai! I made it to the Hyperion outpost - just gimme some time and I'll steal a drop-barge! Once y'all find out where the Warrior is, we can all go after it together!"_ Brick basically shouted through the ECHO. I rolled my eyes and got my gun ready. The loaders had definitely heard that.

I peeked around the corner and stared directly at one of them. I started swearing, as he moved slowly closer to me. Thank God, I had a corrosive gun with me. I fired a few quick shots at the two loaders that were outside the hut and then started running towards the next location, hoping to get away from them quickly enough.

It looked like the next place seemed to be some sort of building as well, but quite a bit bigger. It wasn't too far away, so I got there fairly quickly. It seemed that the rest of the group got to the pumping station at around the same time.

 _"Good, you made it. Now crank those valves to raise the pressure."_ Mordecai told them, as I heard gunshots in the background.

 _"That's easier said than done. This place is swarming with Hyperion forces."_ Maya answered. I tried to open the door to the house in front of me. It was locked shut. There were a few containers around the place, but no ECHO recorders in them.

"Mordecai, I can't find the one here. The house is locked tight. Any ideas before I blast the door open and draw attention?" I asked.

 _"Can you climb on top of the roof and maybe get in that way?"_

I looked at the building. There were a few containers and ledges over which I could possibly get on top of the whole thing. Didn't look very promising, but worth a try. There seemed to be some sort of chest up on the roof anyways, so at least I wouldn't come back completely empty handed.

"I can try." I echoed Mordecai and pulled myself up on top of the container. I really shouldn't have done that, because I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder. But letting go now and dropping down would probably be even more painful, so I kept going. There was a small ledge I could try to jump onto and from there it shouldn't be too hard to climb on top of the building.

"I'm getting too old for this..." I mumbled with a sigh and started running towards the ledge. I jumped and just about made it. I had to pull myself up quite a bit from there, but I didn't fall and hit my head on the container, so that was a plus.

 _"Bullshit, you're not getting too old. You're doing fine."_ Mordecai said through the ECHO, as I climbed up onto the rooftop.

"Well, I'm glad you're so confident in me and my ability to climb onto roofs without ladders." I replied and walked over to the chest. And there it was, lying on top of the chest - the ECHO recorder. I sure hoped that this thing was what we were looking for and not something weird that was coincidentally in the same place.

I picked it up and listened to it, while I was going through the chest full of ammo. It was clearly Jack's voice that I could hear.

 _"Okay, any candidates today, Angel?"_

 _"There are... four treasure hunters who arrived on a shuttle several hours ago. They are currently on a bus to Fyrestone."_ Angel said. She sounded almost emotionless. It was like I could see the empty expression on her face.

 _"Great! Say this to 'em: Don't be alarmed. I need you to stay calm and don't let on that anyone is talking to you. Start making your way off the bus."_ Jack told her.

 _"The bus is still moving, sir."_

 _"Shut up. Tell them-"_

Jack was interrupted by something that sounded like a gun being fired.

 _"John? Why have you dispatched one of our satellites to Pandora? What are you doing?"_ an unknown voice said.

 _"Uh... sir, uh, the energy readings my, uh... instruments, uh, at home are getting from Pandora are-"_ Jack was stammering, as if he had no idea how to explain himself. I hadn't ever seen him at a loss for words, so that was new.

 _"Get out of there at once, you hideous little code monkey! And shut off that satellite!"_ the unknown man said.

 _"Yes, sir. I'm sorry, Mister Tassiter, it won't happen again, Sir."_ Jack replied. That was odd. I was almost certain the four treasure hunters Angel was talking about were Mordecai, Lilith, Brick and Roland. But what was that thing about the satellite and readings? Who was this Mister Tassiter? Pretty strange.

 _"Cool. Now, hit the other two pump stations and raise the pressure 'til that pipe's fit to burst. Then you can bust the pipe, get into the Stockade, and find out where the Warrior's buried."_ I heard Mordecai say. Sounded like they were managing just fine.

"Mordy, I've got the ECHO. Moving to the Boneyard now, for the other three."


	75. Chapter 74 or Blasting the Pipeline

_song: Dropkick Murphys - It's A Long Way To The Top_

 _"Uhm, sir? We've lost at least a dozen staff to the Angel's malfunctions. We need to shut her down! Your wife suggested as much before her disappear-"_ a male voice said before he was cut off.

 _"Rrngh - Jimmy, please make a note: I'm strangling Mister Moorin for bringing up my wife."_ Jack said in an angry voice.

 _"Choked... Mister Moorin..."_ a different male voice said. It was a slightly familiar voice, but I didn't know why.

 _"No, no, Jimmy, choking is something you do when you eat too fast. As I'm crushing Mister Moorin's windpipe with my watch chain, what I'm doing is actually referred to as strangling."_ Jack explained, weirdly calm.

 _"Ghkk... please, please..."_ the first man was begging.

 _"Tut-tut-tut-tut-tut... Shhhhh. There we go. Anything else on today's agenda, Jimmy?"_ Jack said, as if this was just another day at the office.

 _"It's Jeffrey, sir. And no."_ the second man replied. He sounded somewhat disturbed, as if he was doing his best not to be shocked by Jack strangling a man in front of him. There was a terrible crushing sound.

 _"Thanks Jimmy - rnrgh! Well, then. Drinks are on Handsome Jack!"_ Jack said afterwards. The ECHO recording ended. I wasn't sure how to feel about that. They seemed to get more and more disturbing.

As I packed the recorder away and started moving towards the next location, a familiar face popped up on my ECHO device. It was Roland. Roland was echoing. What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fu-

 _"Hey, buddy! It's me, Roland! Let's kill Handsome Jack and then we'll ALL go out for milkshakes!"_ a voice said, very badly imitating Roland's voice. What the hell was going on? There could only be one explanation...

 _"Naw, I'm just playing. He's still really dead. Grabbed his ECHO unit when I left. Just wanted to tell you that Lilith is doing a bang-up job charging the Vault Key for me. The Warrior will be awake in no time."_ Jack replied to his own message right after. What a damn fucking bastard. Everything he said just made me want to kill him even more. I wish I had something I could shoot at or punch, but I couldn't risk drawing too much attention to myself.

 _"Sounds like the pipes are nearly bursting, heheheheh. Hit the last pumping station and we'll be ready to blast the pipeline open."_ Mordecai echoed the rest of the team, ignoring Jack trying to mess with us. Somehow he still managed to get to me after all this time. I thought I'd get used to it, but I didn't.

The next ECHO recorder seemed to be out in the open which was kinda strange. Maybe it was in some little tent or something, they usually didn't show up on the ECHO map. Whatever it might be, it wasn't far from here. I jumped over a little puddle of slag and reloaded my gun. From my experience there would most certainly be loaders or engineers nearby.

 _"You doing alright, chica?"_ Mordecai asked.

"I'm good, yeah. It's not a walk in the park, but I kinda doubt it'll kill me." I replied when I heard some maniacal screaming. I turned to my right and there were two engineers that came running at me from a small tent.

"Hold on a second or the mission might kill me." I echoed back and aimed at the first one. He was hit pretty badly, but continued running. I felt some sharp pain in one of my legs, but chose to ignore it. I quickly shot at him again and he collapsed. The second one went down fairly easily as well.

I took a look at my leg, scared I would have to go and see Zed again. I vividly remembered the last time I had to see him and it was unpleasant. But it looked like my leg only got grazed by the bullet. It was bleeding quite a lot, yes, but it should heal fast. I dragged myself into the little tent and got out one of the healing kits Zed had given me. I put some bandages around the wound as tight as I could and injected myself with a health vial.

I waited a few seconds until the substance in the vial started showing an effect and I felt the pain slowly dissipating. The ECHO recorder I was looking for was on a wall, so I just grabbed it and played it while resting.

 _"Why isn't this working, Angel?"_ Jack growled angrily.

 _"I don't..."_ Angel started, sounding scared. She was interrupted by Jack.

 _"I've pumped every frickin' ounce of Eridium I've got into you but the stupid Key isn't working! WHY?!"_

 _"I'm sorry, I don't know."_

 _"You're a SIREN! You're one-of-a-kind - now make it work! I want that freaking Warrior, Angel. I want him awake, okay? I want him under my control, now - I want him now! NOT LATER! NOW!"_ Jack screamed at her. I could only imagine how scared she must have been this whole time. Poor thing.

 _"Nova? I think I've located the next one. It's on top of some sort of Windmill. You'll have to either shoot the thing down or start up the windmill, so it'll fall down. Are you alright?"_ Mordecai echoed me.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll get there in a second, just need a little break."

 _"Are you hurt?"_

"I'm fine. It's just a small wound, don't worry. I got it under control."

 _"Be careful. Get back once you have the last ECHO."_

"I will, don't worry." I replied to him and got up from the ground. I had seen the windmill on my way here, so it would be easy to find it. My leg only hurt a little, thanks to the painkillers in the health vials. I managed to jog lightly, which was better than me limping around. I just had to get this over and done with.

I quickly reached the little hut next to the windmill. If the power switch was anywhere, it would be here. I walked around the house and quickly saw the switch. When I turned the power on, a rakk came flying from the windmill. It had the ECHO recorder in its claws. That was just typical.

"Oh, fuck that." I swore and fired a whole round at the rakk. He dropped to the ground and the ECHO fell down with him. I limped over and grabbed it from the ground, before making my way back to the fast travel.

 _"Ah, tut-tut - now now, Mister Tassiter, blackmail is such a dirty little word, isn't it? Actually, you know what, come to think of it, it's not a dirty word at all. It's kind of awesome. Blackmail! Say it with me: black..."_ I heard Jack saying, his voice sounding pleased with himself and almost maniacal.

 _"Oh, go to hell, John. Just because you got lucky with your Pandora hunch doesn't mean-"_ Mister Tassiter replied.

 _"Because I was right, is what you mean. And call me Jack, idiot."_

 _"You may have been able to scare the other directors into giving up their shares, but I know you. I know that beneath that ridiculous mask, you're still a hideous, pathetic little nobody."_

 _"Mister Tassiter - maybe you can settle up something for me - do you know the difference between choking and strangulation?"_

That was where the recording ended. It was disturbing, no question about it. Everyone already thought that Jack was a horrible person, but this just proved how terrible he was. He was just an absolute psychopath.

 _"I've heard what I need to hear. Come on back."_ Mordecai said over the ECHOnet with a certain bitterness in his voice.

"What was it that you needed to hear?" I asked him.

 _"I'm not sure. Some proof that Jack really is a terrible person? Something to find out if he really loved his daughter or if that was all a lie, too. Turns out it was. What a surprise. If I didn't want Jack dead before, I sure as hell do now."_

"Are you sure, you want me to come back to Sanctuary? I could still help the others with getting to the Stockade." I offered.

 _"Nova, you got shot. Come back here and rest a little. I need you up on your feet for fighting Jack. You don't wanna miss that, do you?"_ Mordecai answered.

"Fine. I'm not too keen on crawling through the pipeline again, anyways." I replied and started walking towards the fast travel station faster.

 _"We finished all the pumping stations. What do you want us to do next?"_ Maya echoed all of a sudden.

 _"Great - the pressure in the pipeline's so high, a little force will pop it like a blister. Get back to the pipeline, and bring your vehicle - I got an idea."_ he told them. I was almost at the travel station when they echoed that they got the runner.

 _"You're there? Good. Now - ram the pipe with your vehicle. Probably won't kill you. Hopefully."_ Mordecai said. I turned around just in time to be able to see the car - tiny from the distance - speeding up and driving straight into the pipeline. The thing burst with a loud exploding noise and I was pushed back a little from the force of it. The Vault Hunters slowly crawled out of the runner, covered in slag, but alive.

 _"Hijo de puta, hahahaha! I heard that all the way back in Sanctuary! You can get to the Stockade through the pipeline now. Get inside, and find out where Jack's got the Warrior."_


	76. Chapter 75 or The Info Stockade

_song: The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army_

 _"Every bit of data in the Hyperion network ends up archived here. Mining information, security footage - it all flows to the Stockade. Get inside."_

That's what I heard just as I materialized back in Pierce Station. The pain killers had worn off pretty quickly and my leg was hurting a lot now and it had even started bleeding again. I was limping back to HQ.

I walked in the door, said hello to Tannis and dragged myself upstairs, just so I could sit down on the couch. My leg hurt badly and I'd have to change the bandages pretty soon or things would get infected and difficult.

 _"Good news, everybody - I stole the drop barge! Hyperion was no match for my secret punch-you-in-the-face-until-you-die fighting style! When the time comes, we'll fight our way to the Vault together!"_ Brick said triumphantly. Mordecai turned around when he saw me coming upstairs. He quickly noticed the injury on my leg.

"Damn it, Nova, are you okay? That looks bad." he said and helped me sit down on the couch. I shook my head.

"It's fine. Just got grazed." I replied.

"Does it hurt much?" he asked. I nodded.

"I gotta change the bandages." I said.

"You'll have to go and see Zed!"

"NO!"

Mordecai looked at me with a raised eyebrow as I started taking off the bandage that was drowned in blood at this stage. I would have to clean the wound and then put a fresh bandage on, but I definitely wouldn't go back to Zed.

"Why not?" Mordecai finally wanted to know.

"Last time with my shoulder was bad. Really bad. I don't wanna go through the same ordeal again. I can take care of this myself." I replied.

"Do you need anything?"

"I could use some alcohol to clean out the wound and fresh bandages. Can you get that from Zed maybe?" I asked.

"Alright. You take care of the ECHO console while I'm gone, okay?" he said and went off to get the stuff for me.

"How are things for you guys?" I echoed the rest of the Vault Hunters, hoping for some good news while I was waiting.

 _"Kinda stressful, this is not a good time to chat, Nova."_ Maya replied.

"Why, what's going on?"

 _"Kinda fighting a massive bot called Saturn. Will tell you more when we're done here."_ she said. I brought up the vital signs of all the six Vault Hunters. They seemed to be doing alright, but some of the shields had been taking hits. A lot of hits. I could imagine, massive Hyperion bots weren't fun to fight.

"Holy shit..." I mumbled watching the shields go up and down. I could only imagine what the hell was going on there.

 _"Don't worry, we've got him under control. He's going down, slowly, but steadily."_ Maya said. I nodded, only half aware that she couldn't even see me. I kept removing the bandage quickly. Most of the bleeding had stopped now, but it still hurt like hell. Just as I kept thinking about when Mordecai would be back, I heard him running up the stairs. He somehow was everywhere, taking care of everything, lately. It was sweet, but only now I realised under how much stress and pressure he had to be.

"Are you okay? What's happening?" he asked, a bunch of bandages and a bottle of clear alcohol in his hand.

"They are fighting some massive bot, apparently. Called Saturn. They seem to be doing alright, but it must be a tough fight." I told him. He handed me the alcohol and bandages and went back to the ECHO console.

 _"I know you think I'm a monster. You think I enslaved Angel. But you didn't see what she did to her mother. I had to restrain Angel's power. You get that? I had to."_ Jack suddenly chimed in, trying to justify himself. I would have been inclined to believe him, had I not heard the ECHO recordings.

 _"And I'm sure he had to exploit her for profit and power, too. Don't listen, Vault Hunter - he killed Angel long before you pulled the plug-"_ Lilith said, her voice sounding strained and tormented. She sounded like she was in pain and was trying to hide it.

 _"Don't you dare speak about my daughter."_ Jack interrupted her.

 _"Uhhn!"_ Lilith screamed loudly. I grabbed Mordecai's hand and held onto it. Hearing Lilith in pain like that scared me.

 _"Lilith has quite the little mouth on her, doesn't she? And, as it turns out, when that Eridium is pumping through her body, I can stab her over and over and over and it just heals right back up. I'm told it's agonizing. Ohohoho, she looks pissed."_

Jack's voice just sounded outright evil when he said this. He was enjoying hurting Lilith, there was no doubt about that. It made me feel sick and disgusted. I couldn't put it into words, but I just felt so... so helpless.

"Son of a BITCH! We're comin', Lil. Just hold on." Mordecai said. He looked angry. I felt terrible. We had to get her back. We just couldn't leave here with him for much longer, there was no fucking way.

 _"You really think you stand a chance against me? Pathetic. Maybe your little girlfriend will be next, Mordecai. I've already taken one of you girlfriends."_ Jack replied, sounding very amused.

"Don't you fucking DARE, Jack! I'll kill you! I'll fucking kill you!"Mordecai shouted. I just sat there, starting to panic a little. I focused on trying to stay calm and breathe calmly and just keep my panic under control. I couldn't believe how easy it was for Jack to get to me. This had to stop.

 _"Saturn is finished off. Heading to the elevator now."_ Maya updated us.

"Good. Take care that not too many people see you." Mordecai told them and sighed. I grabbed the bottle of alcohol and started pouring some onto a rag that looked somewhat clean. I needed to clean out that wound, there was definitely sand in there. I would be fine if I could just focus on that.

"Does it hurt much?" Mordecai asked.

"Stings a little. I'll be okay. Don't you worry." I replied, feeling myself getting a little calmer as I felt the sting of the alcohol on the open wound.

"I have to worry. I can't help Lilith or... or Roland or Bloodwing. I can help you. Please let me help you." he said. I gave him a warm smile and handed him the rag drenched in alcohol. He took it and started cleaning the wound.

I was always amazed at how gentle Mordecai could be. When you saw him, you wouldn't think it. He looked pretty rough, hiding behind his goggles most of the time, not talking much, the raspy voice - plus, he was absolutely deadly with a gun in his hand. But he could be the most caring person in the world.

 _"Mordecai? We got in."_ Maya echoed. Mordecai gave me the rag again, so I could hold it for him while he dealt with the mission.

"Great job, amigos. Now that you're in, there oughtta be an info terminal nearby. Find it." he told them.

 _"Right. Guys, you heard him. Get going and find that terminal."_ Maya said to the rest of the group. I finished cleaning the wound quickly and got up to get one of the bandages. It took me a while to get the package open and get the bandage out. Mordecai turned over to me and shook his head.

"Let me do this. Let the wound get some fresh air." he said. I nodded.

"Okay."

"At least I won't feel completely useless then." Mordecai added quietly.

"Useless? Mordecai, you're not useless! What are you saying?" I asked, but I never got an answer.

 _"We found the terminal."_ Maya said.

"Good! Plug an ECHO recorder in and download everything you can onto it. Might take you a little while." Mordecai said.

 _"Understood."_ Maya replied. Mordecai turned back to me with the bandage in his hand. He looked at the wound carefully.

"You were lucky with that." he said as he started wrapping the bandage around my leg. I nodded quickly.

"I know. I'll be fine, though. No need to worry about me. I had worse injuries." I replied. He finished up wrapping the wound and got back up.

"You'll rest today, alright? You need to get better. You can't keep relying on all those health vials, Nova." he said. I nodded. He was right, but we were so close to killing Jack once and for all, I didn't want to rest. Mordecai focussed on the incoming data again, quickly skimming whatever they found in the Info Stockade.

"There!" he shouted suddenly. I startled and got up, limping over to him. He was looking at some map projection.

"Jack's sent all the Eridium he's mined straight to the Hero's Pass. That must be where the warrior's buried! Get back to Sanctuary - it's time to get ready for the final assault." he added happily.

 _"Good. I don't think Sal and Axton would be able to hold our position here much longer. Heading back immediately."_ Maya echoed back.

"Do we have him?" I asked, my voice sounding more hopeful than it was. Knowing where Jack had the Vault Key and Lilith was good news, but it also made me feel quite anxious. It meant we'd have to fight him and so far we hadn't been very successful at that. It meant we would either win against Jack or die trying.

"Yes. This. Ends. Now."


	77. Chapter 76 or Final Gifts

_song: Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc._

Once again we were sitting around in HQ, plotting and planning. Mordecai and Brick had been pulling an all-nighter going through all the data from the Info Stockade, while I was resting and getting my leg healed as good as possible in such a short time. The next morning everyone crammed into the main room of HQ. The holo map was turned on and there were around 5 different cups of coffee on the table.

Mordecai had briefed us all on the defenses Jack most likely had in Hero's Pass, where we were going, what kind of terrain we were facing, what kind of enemies (mostly loaders and Hyperion engineers) there would be and how we would proceed. My head was full with all that information and to be honest, I don't think I could remember all of it. But we needed a good briefing. This was important, this was where we finally defeated Jack or died trying.

"Jack, Lilith, and the Warrior are in Hero's Pass. So that's where we're headed. This is the final fight, amigos - if you gotta prepare, do it now. Go check around the city - these people don't have much, but they still wanna help you." Mordecai summarized.

"Okay, so we're going around asking people if they have stuff to help us?" Maya asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, and you stock up on whatever you need. You won't have time to go back and get something else. If you run out of bullets - well, that's tough. If you run out of health vials - tough as well. Alright?" he replied.

"Sounds good. Let's do this, guys." I said. I was itching to finally get up and get moving. I could feel my leg hurting a little, but it was much better than before. The health vials would have to do for now.

I stood up from my chair and walked downstairs, being careful not to show that I still felt a little bit of pain in my leg. On the bright side, it wasn't anything dangerous. I wouldn't die from the wound, it just hurt a little.

"How about you go and get everything together from people and we go and stock up on ammunition and health vials?" Maya suggested, as I was about to leave. I gave her a quick smile and a thumbs up.

"Sounds good. We'll meet back here in an hour?" I replied.

"Perfect."

I continued downstairs and looked at Tannis. She looked up at me at the same time and gave me something that sort of resembled a smile.

"Are you heading off now?" she asked.

"Not quite. I'm just gonna go and collect some stuff, whatever we could possibly need for the fight." I answered.

"Though I generally have trouble verbalizing my thoughts into words that will not utterly confuse or nauseate you, I find my mental processes are now surprisingly focused. I have only two words for you - perhaps the most important two words ever spoken on Pandora: Kill. Jack. Here - this may help you in your efforts to put a hilariously large hole in Jack's face." she said, sounding like she had prepared this little speech for a long time. She grabbed something from the table behind her. It was a rock. A shiny rock.

"Uh... thanks. Appreciate it." I answered and took the rock she was holding out to me. I had no idea what that was supposed to be and how it would help, but I figured someone might have a use for it.

I guessed that my best bet would be to go to Zed next. I never tried any of his weird pills (yet), but maybe he had forgotten about them. I kinda hoped he did. They might help, but now wasn't the time for experiments. I opened his door and almost slipped on the bloody tiles. There was a strange smell coming from a corner of the room that was sealed off by a thick curtain. It was probably better not to ask questions.

"Uh... Zed?" I asked carefully. There was some rumbling behind the curtain and Zed looked out from behind it.

"Nova! Is everything alright?" he asked and scurried out from behind the curtain. I nodded quickly.

"Yeah, everything's good. Just wanted to let you know we're heading off to Hero's Pass soon. Gonna give the whole killing Jack business a shot." I replied. He nodded with a pensive smile.

"I ain't the best with words, but I just want ya to know I'm rootin' for ya out there. Jack kicked me outta my home back in Fyrestone - it's about time he got what's comin' to him. Here. Thought you could use this." he said and started digging through his pockets with his bloody hands. He pulled out a shield and gave it to me.

"Cool, thanks, Zed. I think Gaige might appreciate this." I said.

"Where you headin' next?" Zed asked. I just shrugged. I hadn't really thought about it.

"Dunno. Scooter, I guess?" I replied. Zed nodded.

"Alright. Good luck to y'all then."

"Thanks, Zed. See you around." I said and turned around to head over to Scooter's workshop. It was a fairly quiet day, almost a little too quiet. It just didn't feel like we were about to do anything eventful soon. It seemed like just another day on Pandora, if there was even such a thing as a normal day on Pandora.

 _"If that Vault Hunter comes by, you make sure to give 'em my love, alright?"_ I heard a voice saying from Scooter's workshop. I stopped in my tracks and decided to listen a little. Like some creep.

"What? Ew. I ain't gon' do that." Scooter answered. I snickered silently.

 _"I mean wish 'em luck, Scooter."_

"Oh. Okay. That makes more sense."

 _"Hey, and if we don't get through this - if Jack wakes his Warrior or whatever? Tell ma... tell ma I love her."_

"Hell, girl, she already knows that. Catch-a-familial-reconciliatioooooon!"

 _"Why you always gotta do that?"_

I turned the corner after that, because I felt really weird about being such a creep and listening to someone else's conversation like that.

"Hi Scooter." I said, sounding kinda sheepish. He looked up at me and gave me a big massive smile.

"Oh, hey, man - Ellie and I was just talkin' bout ya. Now you... you make sure to come back alive, okay? If you can, come back with Jack's head on a pike, y'hear?" he replied. There was some noise coming from his ECHO and then Ellie's voice.

 _"What Scooter said - I wanna hollow that sumbitch's gourd and eat nachos out of it."_ Ellie added. Scooter grabbed something from the table beside him quickly.

"Oh, nearly forgot - Ellie and I got somethin' for ya. Hope it helps." he said and gave me a box. I looked at it for a while.

"Scooter... those are modified grenades..." I mumbled.

"Yeah, aren't they cool?"

"Are you kidding me? They're damn fucking incredibly cool! Thanks, Scooter! See you around. I hope." I said and started making my way to Moxxi's bar. I was going to talk to her and to Marcus, but I wanted to leave Marcus until the end.

The music coming from Moxxi's bar was loud as always, but today it made me kind of sad, because I realized that this might be the last time I'd hear it. Chances were that we could all die horrible deaths when trying to kill Jack.

I stepped into Moxxi's bar with a grim expression on my face. Thinking about my potentially impending death wasn't really lightening the mood for me. Thinking about possibly losing Lilith or Mordecai or anyone really, didn't make it better either. Why did everything on this planet involve dying in some way?

"In a bad mood, sugar?" Moxxi asked me while she was drying a glass she had just washed up. I shrugged.

"Kinda depressing to think this might be the last time we're all in Sanctuary." I replied. Moxxi put the glass down.

"Nonsense, sugar. You have survived so long, Jack won't be a match for you. At all. Why would you even think he'd have a chance?" Moxxi asked and continued washing her glasses, as I sat down to chat with her.

"Well, he did manage to kill Roland. And Bloodwing. He got Lilith. I dunno, I mean, I'm just scared, I guess?" I replied.

"He shot Roland in the back. He wouldn't stand a chance in a fair fight. Same goes for Lilith and Bloodwing. You'll be fine. All of you are good at what you're doing, sugar. Don't you worry too much."

"I dunno. I guess you're right, just... look, I'm on a ton of health vials and painkillers constantly, because of the wound in my shoulder and my leg. Mordecai is still on the drink. Brick... Brick is gonna be fine, I guess. Krieg is a psycho. Gaige is a teenager. Axton is too much of a hero. Maya has barely been outside her monastery. Salvador... well, I guess Salvador and Zero are gonna be alright, too."

"See? Also, I've had just about enough of that handsome jackass, sugar. Get rid of him, and you'll never pay for another drink again." she said and started fishing around for something under her bar. She pulled out a brand new, beautiful SMG.

"Here - I got something for ya." she added then.

"Are you insane, Moxxi? That's amazing. Thanks!" I replied and took the SMG out of her hands carefully.

"Sugar, we all have to be insane to still be on this damned rock. Finish this for me."


	78. Chapter 77 or The Beginning Of The End

_song: The Last Internationale - Soul On Fire_

"Soo... we got lots of stuff here. Zero, Sir Hammerlock gave me a really nice sniper rifle, if you wanna take a look at it." I said, showing off my exploits at HQ. A big smiley face appeared on Zero's helmet and he walked up to me to have a look at the sniper rifle. I got out the assault rifle I got from Marcus next.

"Axton, might this be something for you? From Marcus." I asked.

"Mh-mh. Lookin' good." he answered wiggling his eyebrows at the assault rifle, as he took it out of my hands.

"I also got an SMG from Moxxi, if anyone wants it." I continued, holding up the weapon showing it to everyone.

"I'll take it." Maya said and walked over to me to get the gun. She took a look at the rest of the stuff.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing to the box I got from Scooter.

"Oh, Scooter gave me those. It's a shit ton of modified grenades. You got any use for them?" I replied.

"Not me, but the big guy here might like them." she said, nodding towards Krieg. He looked back at us nervously, raised his arm with the buzz axe in it and started screaming.

"I AM THE CONDUCTOR OF THE POOP TRAIN!"

"Sure thing. Give him the grenades, girl." I said and handed her the box. There wasn't too much left now.

"Gaige, I got a nice shield for you from Zed, if you want it." I said.

"Oooh, damn, yes!" she shouted from the back of the room.

"Are you gonna catch it?"

"Maybe."

I threw the shield over to her, hoping for the best. Thankfully, she did manage to catch it, because it would have hit Brick's head otherwise. And I don't think he would've been very happy about that.

"Okay, guys, so the last thing is something I got from Tannis and it seems to be... a rock. A shiny rock." I said and held it up for everyone to see. To my surprise there were gasps all around. Looked like everyone but me knew what this thing did.

"That's an Eridian artifact." Maya replied, when she saw that I didn't have a single clue on what I was holding in my hand.

"Okay. Cool. That sounds important. What's it do?" I asked, feeling a little dumb all of a sudden. I mean, I kinda was a little dumb. But I had never really taken an interest in stuff about the Eridians, because... well, I usually had better things to do. And half of what people said were usually only legends anyways.

"They are all different, but this one looks like it might help with health and stuff. It might help you heal better and quicker? Or it could also be that it makes you a little more resilient." Maya explained.

"Oh. Why did no one think of telling me these things existed?"

"Well, they are pretty rare, usually. And you never asked, so... I dunno, we all assumed you knew about them."

I shook my head. I had no idea they could do that. Well, if what Maya said was true, of course. I was kinda still doubting half the things I heard about Eridians, because to be honest, a lot of it was speculation.

"Okay, so who wants this artifact?" I asked. Everyone looked at each other.

"To be fair, we should all be good. We all have some artifact, but I think you should have this one." Maya said.

"Wait, what? I thought they're pretty rare? And why would you give that thing to me of all people? I mean, I am close to death all the time." I protested.

"Well, we do a lot of digging around. If you look for them it's not that difficult to find artifacts. On Pandora at least." Salvador replied.

"And because you get shot a lot, you should probably have it. Whatever it does, it supports your health in some way and you are already pretty beaten up and on an absurd amount of painkillers. Not to mention the health vials." Maya added. I looked at the shiny rock again. I mean, it couldn't hurt carrying it around with me. Maybe it would actually help. Plus, my shield could only withstand so much damage.

"Okay. I guess, it's mine then. Do I just... carry it around with me?" I asked. There was nodding all around the room.

"Okay then. I'm gonna get my supply of health vials and ammo ready and then we should be good to go, I suppose." I said, looking over to Mordecai who was leaning back on the sofa and who seemed like he had dozed off while we went through all the stuff. He opened his eyes and looked over at our group.

"You guys ready?" he asked. I nodded.

"Cool." he replied and got up from the couch.

"Hyperion's locked the entrance to Hero's Pass. Get back to Claptrap; you'll need him to open the way for you. Brick and I will meet you once you're in. Win or lose, we're gonna finish this together. For Bloodwing. For Roland. For Pandora!" he said while he walked over to the holomap.

"Hell yeah. Let's go and talk to Claptrap, so. And then we can run off to the Eridium Blight and finally finish this!" Gaige said enthusiastically and stomped down the stairs ahead of the rest of them.

"Nova, you're coming with Brick and me." Mordecai said, as I was about to follow them. I turned back around again.

"Oh, okay. What's your plan to get into Hero's Pass?" I asked them.

"We're gonna head through the Dust. It'll be easier for either us or them to get in, because Jack'll be distracted." he explained.

"Sounds good. So when are we leaving?"

"Once they get to the Eridium Blight. It'll take them a while to get to the gate, so we have time to go through the Dust and get into Hero's Pass from the other side."

 _"Mmmm... You feel that? That electricity in the air when you're just aching to murder someone? Haven't felt that in such a long time."_ Jack's voice suddenly came through the ECHO. And damn, was he right. I was aching to murder him.

"Looks like they got to the Eridium Blight. Let's head towards the Fast Travel Station." Mordecai said. I nodded.

"This is gonna be fun!" Brick exclaimed happily.

 _"You do what you have to to stop him from waking that Warrior. Even if it means takin' me out. Better dead than a damsel."_ Lilith's voice came over the ECHO as we made our way through Sanctuary. It felt weird to see the town again, trying to take in as much as possible, because it might be the last time.

"Brick, Nova and I will meet you out in Hero's Pass. Win or lose, we're gonna finish this together." Mordecai replied.

"We might not make it, slab. But I want you to know - hehehehe - it's been a hell of a lot of fun." Brick added, as we entered Pierce station. Brick went over to the station to put in the Fast Travel code.

"You really think this might be it? Like... We could die?" I asked Mordecai quietly while we were waiting.

"We're on Pandora. It's more likely to die than not here."

"And us having survived for that long makes it even more difficult to believe we could actually die this time." I added.

"I know. We'll see. But if we die, we'll take Jack with us." he said with a small smile on his face. I smiled back at him.

"Good." I answered.

"You scared?" he asked.

"A little. You?"

"A lot. But hell, we gotta do this. No matter how it ends."

"Stop being mushy, you two. We're going to the Dust!" Brick called from the fast travel station. Mordecai and I looked at each other briefly before rolling our eyes and walking over to him, so we could all travel into the Dust.

I got the weird dizzy feeling that I usually got when fast travelling and when I opened my eyes we were standing outside of Ellie's garage. I hadn't seen Scooter's sister much, but she seemed pretty cool. I just never really had the chance to hang out with her, because she was also so far out of the way.

"I'm driving the car!" Brick insisted as soon as we all materialized. I couldn't believe he was that unaffected by the Fast Travel. By the time I felt somewhat normal again, Brick was already back with a car.

Mordecai and I jumped in and we were on our way to Hero's Pass. It was a weirdly quiet car ride (not to mention there were atrocious amounts of sand blowing in my face, even though I had my scarf wrapped in front of my face). I had no idea how long we were driving until we finally got somewhere close to Hero's Pass and it was time for us to get real. I checked my pouches for ammo and health vials and the artifact I had stowed away in one of them. I really hoped it would do what it promised.


	79. Chapter 78 or Claptrap in Action

_song: The Prodigy - Spitfire_

 _"This is it, minion. Our vengeance is finally at hand! LET'S TEAR THIS PLANET A NEW ***HOLE! YAAAAAAGHHHHH!"_ we heard Claptrap scream through our ECHOs, as we made our way through the mines into Hero's Pass. Mordecai had found a passage that had been abandoned by Hyperion a while ago, so that was where we were heading through right now, while the Vault Hunters went through the gate.

 _"Hyperion's gonna regret ever setting foot on Pandora! Minion, I'm gonna get that door open so I can take care of that handsome bastard myself! You hear me, Jack?! You killed my friends! You destroyed my product line! I am the last Claptrap in existence, AND I AM GOING TO TEABAG YOUR CORPSE!"_ Claptrap kept screaming.

"What the hell is he on about?" I mumbled, the echo sounding louder in the abandoned passage than I thought.

 _"AHHHHH! Minion, draw their fire with your face while I cloak my way over to the door controls!"_ Claptrap screamed again.

"Seems like they're getting attacked." Mordecai commented and rolled his eyes. And I couldn't have agreed with him more. As much as I loved Claptrap, he could be really annoying and right now he was especially annoying.

"Surprised we didn't get attacked yet. 'S like Jack forgot about this place." Brick said and looked around him suspiciously.

"Well, they did abandon this place, but... yeah. I'd be careful. It's weird that we haven't seen a single loader bot or anything yet." Mordecai agreed.

"Maybe they're focussing on the actual gate? You know where the rest of the team is?" I replied. Brick shrugged.

"Possible. I still don't trust the peace and quiet here. Better safe than sorry." Mordecai said and we continued walking through the pitch black passage.

"How are you guys holding up?" I echoed the Vault Hunters.

 _"We're doing just fine. It's not too bad... yet."_ Axton answered. In the background I could hear Salvador laughing like a maniac, while Krieg and Gaige were screaming and shouting with excitement. Sounded like they were alright.

 _"Good job, minion! I've uncloaked over by the controls - lemme just get this door open!"_ Claptrap announced next.

 _"You think a door can stop me, Jack?! I was MADE to open doors! HAHAHAHA! Aaaaaand OPEN!"_ he screamed. I smiled down at my ECHO. It was good that things seemed to be going well and according to plan. What I didn't realize was that I was heading straight for a wall without even noticing it.

 _"Access denied."_ a robotic voice came through the device, just as I hit my head on the stone wall in front of me.

"Ouch." I mumbled and looked over to Brick and Mordecai, realizing that the impact was still echoing through the tunnel. They were standing there, giving me amused looks and then they started laughing loudly.

"Jeez, you never thought of warning me?" I replied and laughed along with them. Of course, I would walk into a damn wall and break all the dramatic silence before the big fight.

 _"What?! I said 'AAAAND open,' not 'AAAAAND close a secondary set of doors!'"_ Claptrap complained.

 _"Dispatching additional troops."_

 _"NO! Don't dispatch MORE troops! I'm sorry! I'm sorry, pretty female voice!"_

 _"Claptrap! Don't apologize to her, do something!"_ Axton shouted.

 _"I'm gonna find a way to shut down the alert! Just cover me, minion! I'm hacking the security grid now - in just a little while I'll have these defenses down!"_ Claptrap said, while we could hear shooting in the background. They must have dispatched a few more loaders.

 _"Keep covering me - I've almost got the defenses down!"_ Claptrap shouted a little while later. I sure hoped he knew what he was doing.

 _"YES! I've done it! Shutting the door defenses down...NOW!"_ Claptrap then shouted triumphantly.

 _"Activating additional door defenses. Turrets deployed."_

 _"GOD DAMMIT!"_

 _"Dispatching additional troops."_

 _"Crap on a cracker! More bots incoming! We got WAR Loaders, friendo! I've got an idea. I'm hacking those turrets so they'll fight for US!"_

Mordecai was shaking his head next to me, as we listened to the chaos unfolding. We had made it halfway through the old tunnel by now.

"What the hell is going on down there?" he echoed the Vault Hunters.

 _"Claptrap keeps screwing up!"_ Maya shouted, sounding more stressed than annoyed at this stage.

 _"Access denied."_ the robotic voice said again.

 _"Come on, baby, don't be like that! Gimme...those...TURRETS!"_ Claptrap shouted. I looked over at Mordecai with a raised eyebrow.

 _"Access...granted."_

 _"HOLY ...! IT ACTUALLY WORKED! The turrets are fighting for us now! I ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING!"_ Claptrap shouted happily.

"I can't believe that worked for him." Mordecai said, shaking his head again.

"Yeah. I mean... was that just Claptrap flirting or am I imagining things?" I replied. Why was everything on this planet just so... extra?

 _"We got incoming! I'm overriding the door locks! Just stay alive, minion!"_ Claptrap then shouted, sounding like he was panicking.

 _"Dispatching additional troops."_

 _"How many of these guys ARE there?! AVOID the bullets! AVOID THEM! Watch out, minion!"_

 _"Reinforcements... depleted."_ the robotic voice said next, sounding more confused than anything else.

 _"Don't worry, baby - happens to a lot of girls! AAAAAAAAAAND! OPEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNN!"_

"Oh my God, did he just really say that?" I asked.

 _"I don't even think I wanna know."_ Gaige answered my question over the ECHO.

"He definitely did just say that." Brick chimed in with a big grin on his face.

 _"We did it, minion! Jack thought he could stop us with a door? HA! I was MADE to open doors! There's no stopping us now, minion! Together, we shall free Pandora! I will lead you into battle! I will destroy Handsome Jack with my bare hands! I will -"_ Claptrap said, but then stopped suddenly. I was just about to ask what had happened, but that wasn't necessary anymore, when Claptrap let out a disappointed scream.

 _"STAIRS?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_

It was really quiet for a while after that, until most of us just started laughing and giggling. Not to be mean, but it was just the funniest situation. I felt a little bad for Claptrap, but seriously... it was just too good to not laugh about it.

 _"Minion, you've gotta go on without me! Do your master proud! Dammit, Jack - how did you know stairs were my ONLY weakness?! Next to electrocution, and explosions, and gunfire, rust, corrosion, being kicked a lot, viruses, being called bad names, falling from great heights, drowning, adult onset diabetes, being looked at funny, heart attacks, exposure to oxygen, being turned down by women, and pet allergens! Your brilliance is matched only by your malevolence! I'm just gonna go ahead and cloak now. You can't hear me crying if I cloak!"_ he babbled on and on.

"We're almost there." Mordecai said, while we could hear Claptrap crying and sobbing in the background of the ECHO transmission.

 _"We're going to enter Hero's Pass now. Will you be at the beginning or further down the road?"_ Maya asked.

"We'll be a bit further into Hero's Pass. Just fight your way through the first bit of it, we'll meet up with you soon enough. Stay alive, okay? The toughest bit will be way ahead." Mordecai told them.

"So what is our plan?" Brick asked.

"We're going to end up at a ledge. Are your slabs bringing the drop barge in?"

"Yup."

"Good. You'll get down to ground level with that and Nova and I will be sniping from the ledge, so we got your back." Mordecai explained. Brick nodded enthusiastically.

"Alright. Sounds like a somewhat good plan." he said.

"Well, it's the best plan we have, really." Mordecai replied. I had been walking ahead to the end of the tunnel and took a peek out of the dark tunnel. There were bright floodlights shining down on a lot of mining equipment and loader bots. The place seemed calm. For now.

"Ready?" I asked, once Brick and Mordecai caught up with me. They both nodded and we left the darkness of the tunnel and stepped onto the mountain ledge.

 _"Mmmm, do you feel that, child-killer? Hmm? The Key's nearly charged! This world is gonna end!"_ Jack's voice greeted us as soon as our eyes got used to the light.


	80. Chapter 79 or Getting To The Vault

I'm so sorry.

* * *

 _song: Dorothy - Gun In My Hand_

It didn't take long until we saw the rest of the team getting to the part of Hero's Pass that we were at. They looked pretty exhausted, so it was good we were still here. Mordecai, Brick and I had taken care of a good few engineers and Hyperion snipers at this stage, so the rest shouldn't be too difficult.

"We're here, amigos!" Mordecai echoed the rest of them and (presumably) sent a location. I could see them looking around for us, until Zero seemed to have spotted us.

 _"We see you guys. Where's Brick?"_ Axton replied.

 _"Slab!"_ we heard Brick shouting through the ECHO. He leisurely jogged up to them with a grin on his face. He was happy out punching people for a good while now.

 _"Lemme get this outta the way!"_ he said to them and started attacking one of the loaders that was coming at them.

 _"You get the HELL away from my friend!"_ he screamed at the loader bot and punched it into oblivion, screaming all the way through.

"Oh God, is he screaming again?" Mordecai mumbled and shook his head, before he pulled the trigger on some unsuspecting engineer. The beautiful thing about this place was that it was basically like a big cave with tunnels leading further down Hero's Pass. Which meant every shot echoed really loudly and clearly, and hearing the shots from a sniper rifle echoing like that was just beautiful.

 _"You can't stop us!"_ Brick shouted again, as he took another loader apart. Sometimes I wondered if maybe - just maybe - there was something wrong with Brick's mental state. Just a fleeting thought, until I remembered we'd probably be very dead already, if it wasn't for him and his preference for violence.

 _"Dammit - we can't get through! Mordecai!"_ Brick echoed. It looked like they were stuck in an area with lots of loaders and engineers.

"Hold up - I got this!" Mordecai said and aimed at the engineers. He took them out one by one, like clockwork. I took a few good shots at the loaders. It was beautiful.

 _"Mordecai's in position, and my fists are hungry. Let's GO!"_ Brick shouted, sounding like an excited kid. He ran off while the rest of the team seemed to be a little confused as to where they were supposed to go.

 _"This way! We gotta push, slab! Let's go!"_ Brick said and waved them over before he started running at them again.

 _"Enemy in range. Engaging auto cannons."_ a robotic voice said, the announcement echoing throughout the whole place.

"Oh, shit, shit, shit. Can you see where it is?" I asked Mordecai, trying to make out where the fire would be coming from.

 _"Over here, slab!"_ Brick shouted. I looked at where he was pointing at and realized that it was aiming at our little ledge.

"They're shooting at us!" I exclaimed, but it was too late. I could hear the autocannon firing and I heard Mordecai screaming next to me, as I was trying to find some sort of cover. I looked over at him, not sure what I expected to see.

"Mordy! Mordy, are you okay? Oh my God, are you okay?" I asked frantically. He was down on the ground and holding his shoulder. It was bleeding heavily. He looked up to me and crawled behind cover.

"That looks pretty bad." I said, fumbling around for one of my health vials and the last healing kit I had.

"I'm okay, I'm alright. Just the shoulder. What are you doing, chica?" he asked, looking at the healing kit in my hands. I quickly started wrapping a bandage around the bleeding wound in his shoulder, surprised that this one time in my life I knew what to do and didn't just panic.

"Chica, you need those health vials for yourself! I'll be fine." Mordecai kept saying, as I was trying to find a good vein.

"Bullshit." I replied, as I jammed the needle into his arm. I needed my health vials, yes, but right now Mordecai needed them more. Besides, I had loads of them and if this was the one final fight before everything was over, I'd either die anyways or I wouldn't need them for a while, because I could lean back and relax.

 _"Are you okay up there?"_ Maya asked through the ECHO.

"Mordy got hit, but he should be fine again in a second." I replied.

"Thanks, querida." he said quietly to me and got back up.

 _"We're coming, Lilith! Shoot the door, Mordy!"_ Brick said. Mordecai looked around for the door Brick was talking about. It was completely inaccessible from where we were. Of course it would be.

 _"I gotta circle around to make the shot - just stay alive!"_ he told them and got his pistol ready for making his way to the other side.

"Keep those baddies distracted while I move into position! Maybe help everyone else down there, our position here isn't safe anymore anyways." he told me, before he ran off to get to the next vantage point.

 _"I'm on my way!"_ he echoed to all of us. I sighed and loaded up my SMG, as I made my way down the mountain ledge to help out Brick and the Vault Hunters down below. I felt some small stings in my leg and my shoulder, but they were more distracting than painful. In general, I just felt numb.

 _"Dispatching Jet Loaders."_ the robotic voice announced.

 _"God dammit - we're taking fire! Just hold on!"_ Mordecai echoed. I had no idea where exactly he was right now, but I was also a little distracted by an EXP Loader running up to me quickly. I waited until he was just in reach and getting ready to explode and then I ran off. I still got a good hit from the explosion and my ears went deaf for a little while, but it wasn't too bad. I could already see the rest of the group.

 _"Almost there, just hold out a little longer!"_ Mordecai said. I threw a grenade behind me at a whole bunch of different loaders, hoping for the best and running as far away from the blast as possible, which almost made me run straight into another loader. I fired a whole lot of bullets at each of the loaders arms, until they fell off, just in time for me to slide along the ground through its legs and get a few good shots at his eye, which made it collapse slowly.

"That. Was. Badass." Gaige commented, helping me up from the ground. I grinned and shrugged. I was trying to be nonchalant about it, but I was really proud of myself.

"Thanks. Probably the only time I've ever done anything badass." I replied.

 _"I'm here!"_ Mordecai finally echoed. It didn't take long until we heard a clear and loud shot from a sniper rifle and the door was hit.

 _"Boom, baby! The path is clear!"_ he shouted triumphantly. We started cheering and shouting down below.

"Hell yeah! Let's go!" Brick said and we made our way to the door that had just opened up. This was easier than I thought.

"You coming, Mordy?" Brick asked. There were some weird noises from the other end.

 _"Dammit - they're swarming me, Brick! Just leave me - keep going!"_ Mordecai shouted then. I gasped audibly.

"Shit, what? What's happening? Do you need help?" I asked.

 _"No, keep going, you have to get Lilith and stop Jack. Leave me, it'll be fine."_

"Like hell! I gotcha Mordecai!" Brick shouted and started running towards the drop barge. I had no idea what to do and tried finding Mordecai through the scope of my rifle. And I did find him, he was being surrounded by loaders.

 _"No, Brick! NO!"_ he screamed, as he saw Brick coming towards him. Something seemed to have hit the drop barge and Brick let out the loudest scream I had ever heard, just after he had managed to get to Mordecai.

 _"Locking onto drop-barge. Commencing lunar bombardment."_ the robotic voice announced next. Shit. This was bad. They were going to fire moonshots at them.

 _"Crap - they got a lock on us!"_ Mordecai said.

 _"Just go, slab! GO!-"_ Brick screamed and the rest of the group started running towards the door while I was just standing, probably being hit by loads of debris.

"Mordy, I'm coming up there, I can't just leave!" I basically screamed into my ECHO. Why did he not understand that I couldn't go with the rest of the team?

 _"No, you can't stay, you'll die, just-"_

The transmission broke off as more loaders dropped in with a moonshot that just nearly missed the drop barge. I had to jump out of the way of one of them, or he would have easily smashed me.

 _"There's no time, go with the rest! GO!"_ Mordecai shouted again, as someone pulled me along and I stumbled after them, feeling disoriented and panicked. There was no way Mordecai and Brick would survive this - no way. And I couldn't do anything to help and was instead pulled further into Hero's Pass with the rest of the group. I looked at my ECHO map and saw how their signals became less frequent.

"I love you." I said quietly into my own ECHO device as their signal vanished from my ECHO map.


	81. Chapter 80 or The Warrior

_song: TheUnder - Fire_

 _"You're a plague, bandit. You and your kind have corrupted Pandora with your greed and your hatred. It comes down to me to save this world from your kind. But I am more than happy to do it."_ Jack kept taunting us as we were descending into some dark cave with some bits of lava here and there.

The place looked quite scary to me, but right now all I really wanted was to finally, finally end this son of a bitch. It was one thing that he had killed and hurt so many of us already. It was another thing to keep mocking us like that. I just couldn't put up with it anymore. Not after there was a good chance that Mordecai was... gone. If he really was gone, I had nothing to lose anymore anyways.

 _"This is where it all ends. Once Lilith here charges the Key, I'll control the Warrior and wipe you bandits off my planet. When you get to hell, tell your Vault Hunter friends I said 'hey'."_ Jack kept on talking. He was really, really, REALLY annoying me at that stage. I couldn't believe he still had the nerve to be such an asshole when we were right there, when we almost got him. I noticed Gaige nervously clutching her shotgun.

As we walked down some rocky stairs we could see that they were leading to a platform in the middle of a sea of lava. There was an arch made of rock at the very end of it, that looked like an upside down V. This was it. This was the Vault. It took me a second to realize it, but I was standing in the middle of one of those Vaults that I thought were only legends and myths not too long ago.

We went down the stairs. There were quite a few consoles and controls there and in the middle there was some sort of purple beam going up into the air and at the top of it was Lilith - purple wings spread out - and the Vault Key, which was floating around her. She looked exhausted and in agony.

"Lil!" I shouted. Someone at one of the controls turned around to us and my heart almost stopped. This was the guy with the spoon. In New Haven. This was Handsome Jack. I felt sickened.

"Hey, you're right on time - Key's nearly ready! But before I cleanse this planet for good, I am gonna avenge my daughter!" he said to us with a big grin on his face. Then he vanished into thin air. We looked at each other, confused as to what just happened.

Our confusion stopped when suddenly a whole lot of Jack's appeared on the platform. He had gotten a bunch of Doppelgangers or something like that with him! All of them kept laughing maniacally.

"You should've died when I told you to!" one of them screamed. It sounded weirdly distorted and the echo from the walls of the cave made it sound even scarier.

"We have to knock out all the fake Jack's first! If anyone has a great plan, now's the time!" Maya shouted at us over all the noise in the cave.

"Just plant grenades all around them!" Axton replied. Maya's eyes lit up at the mention of that and she smiled knowingly.

"KRIEG! Throw all your grenades at all the Jacks!" she shouted towards the Psycho. He looked at her in confusion, but then raced in there, dropping grenades left and right while the rest of us got ready to stand back.

"Good, good, get back here NOW!" Maya shouted at him when he was done with his grenades and waiting for her to tell him what to do.

"I AM THE CONDUCTOR OF THE POOP TRAIN!" was all he had to say as he was running back to our group.

The grenades went off and most of the Jacks fell down to the ground. That was good. Maybe we still had a chance against him. I shot one of them in the head and he dropped dead. The rest of the team must have gotten rid of the other Jacks, since only one was left standing at this stage. This was the real Jack. It had to be.

"Don't think you're getting away that easily!" I heard his voice from behind a console as he seemed to grab a gun. Which was convenient, because I really had to reload my SMG. I reached into my belt pouch for ammunition, only to find that all I had left was rifle and shotgun ammo. And a few rockets. Shit.

"If anyone can pick up some SMG ammo for me, that'd be great!" I shouted as I started loading my shotgun. This looked like I would have to use my sniper rifle at point blank at some stage. Unless we managed to kill Jack really quickly.

I aimed my shotgun at Jack's general direction and I think the bullet grazed him a little, since he was holding his arm. He was tougher than I expected, though. He was fast and he knew the place well enough to be hiding behind all kinds of rocks and what not. But there was a point when he held up his hand, clutching his chest with his other arm and he stumbled backwards with a big grin on his face.

"That it? HUH?!" he shouted at us, as if he wasn't already half dead from our bombardment of bullets.

"No! The Key's charged!" Lilith screamed from up above. The three pieces of the Vault Key floated closer and merged together eventually, just floating above the ground. We all stared at it in shock.

"I'm not dyin' yet!" Jack exclaimed and pushed the Vault Key into its place in the ground. The purple beam stopped and Lilith fell from her floating position onto the ground. She let out a small, pained scream and then closed her eyes and didn't move. Was she... was she dead? I had little time to think about that, as it turned out.

"You're too late, bandit..." Jack continued teasing us with a big triumphant grin on his face as he got up from the ground. The ground started shaking and some smaller rocks were falling from the walls of the cave. It was really scary, because I half knew what was happening, but I wasn't exactly sure what to expect.

"...I WIN!" Jack shouted as something rose out of the sea of lava. It looked like one massive being made entirely out of rock. It had brightly glowing eyes, was standing on 4 legs and it had something that looked like claws of rock.

"The greatest alien power Pandora has ever seen - and it's MINE to control!" Jack kept shouting. The thing looked around wildly. It was really fucking scary and I had been on Pandora for a good while.

"WARRIOR!" Jack screamed and the beast started roaring loudly and spouting lava from its mouth. Shit. We would all die. I knew it the moment I heard that thing scream. This was it. This was the end. And even if there was just a tiny bit of doubt left in my heart, it was all gone when I saw the look in Jack's face.

"KILL." he said and there was this weird sadistic pleasure in his eyes that just made me want to shoot myself here and there, because it would be way less painful than whatever Jack had in mind.

I looked over to Lilith, ready to run up to her and pull her behind some rocks or something, but when I looked I saw that she was moving a little and sitting up. She looked super tired, but there was some sort of purple shield around her, so she was probably going to be fine. At least I hoped she would.

I watched in horror as the warrior started climbing on top of some pillar of rocks and roared, hot lava flowing out of its mouth, the ground shaking so much I was almost knocked off my feet. All the while Jack was laughing maniacally.

"Get up, get behind something!" I heard someone shout and we all started running for some sort of cover, hiding behind rock formations.

"How the fuck will we beat this thing?" I asked, panic clearly dripping from my voice.

"We'll try to go for the eyes and the mouth and see if that does anything. Also his chest seems to be of a somewhat softer material. We'll try and hit those points." Axton said while reloading his assault rifle. We all nodded and looked around the corner. The Warrior looked like he was ready to jump somewhere.

"The lava's rising! Get to high ground, everyone!" Lilith suddenly shouted. I looked around the corner of the pillar I was hiding behind and saw how the Warrior fell back into the lava, causing some massive waves to roll over the lower parts of the cave. I decided that the best course of action would be to try and climb on top of my little pile of rocks. I made it on top of the thing and had to hold on for dear life as the ground started shaking violently again.

The rest of the team was standing at some stairs, shooting wildly at the Warrior. It seems he was actually hurting and getting weakened. I noticed he had one of his chest plates half ripped off and there was lava flowing out of it.

 _"Nova, you got the rockets. Come over here, we're getting the launcher ready, so we can blast off those breast plates!"_ Axton echoed me. I looked around and saw him and Zero shouldering a rocket launcher, just in front of the warrior.

I jumped off my pillar and started running towards them quickly, while getting the rockets from my belt. I got hit by a bit of lava on the way, but I knew I couldn't stop. My leg was burning and I probably screamed all the way to them, but we managed to load up the rocket launcher and fire it at the Warrior's breast plates.

There was a massive blast and then we were buried under a stream of lava. Thank God my shield caught most of it. But we had done it. We had blasted off the warrior's breastplate and could get to his weak spots.


	82. Chapter 81 or It's Over

_song: The Heavy - How You Like Me Now_

"NO!"

The Warrior collapsed onto the floor of the cave and Jack was screaming. I wasn't sure if he was angry or desperate or disappointed, but I honestly didn't care much. This was it. Jack was finally at his end. He was still half dead and there were eight people currently circling him. He stood no chance.

"This can't be happening... THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!" he screamed, making wild gestures. His eyes looked completely insane now.

"Holy badass - I think you killed it. Never hurts to make sure, though: hit the button on the moonshot console." Lilith said as she slowly got up from the ground. She looked insanely exhausted and had a little wound on her forehead.

Gaige - somehow still having some energy left - ran over to the console and pushed the button, watching in awe as a moonshot sailed in and crashed onto the Warrior. She looked like that was the best thing she'd ever done.

"That. Was. Amazing." she concluded and came sauntering back to the rest of the group. We all watched Jack now. He was breathing heavily and looked angry, like an animal in a cage or something.

"No, no, no... I can't die like this... not when I'm so close... and not at the hands of a filthy bandit! I could've saved this planet! I could have actually restored order! I wasn't supposed to die by the hands of a child-killing psychopath! You're a savage! You're a maniac! You are a bandit AND I AM THE GODDAMN HERO!" he shouted. No one said anything as he paused to catch a breath and stumbled about the place. I felt some blood dripping down my chin. I had no idea how badly injured I actually was. I knew my lip was bleeding and I got a massive wound on my shoulder. The lava had burnt the lower part of my leg and a bit of my other shoulder. I could barely feel my leg anymore. But there were probably a hundred other little injuries I wasn't even aware of.

"The Warrior was practically a god. How - HOW in the hell have you killed my Warrior?" Jack kept talking. We all looked at each other, unsure what to do. Should we... should we actually just kill him now? It was almost as if there was no right way to kill him. Nothing would be satisfying enough, really.

"You idiots! The Warrior could have brought peace to this planet! No more dangerous creatures! No more bandits! Pandora - it could have been a PARADISE!" he kept screaming. We all knew he was lying, as usual. I quietly got my pistol ready, but I wanted to wait for someone to give some sort of signal.

"This is the end, Vault Hunters. Either you kill Jack, or I'll kill him for you. What's it gonna be?" Lilith said, gasping for air. I looked over to her and I knew what I had to do. She deserved this, if anyone did. I held out my pistol to her, so she could take it and finish this for everyone. She of all people should be able to get at least some sort of revenge, after everything Jack had done to her.

"Here. You do it." I said. She nodded and took the gun from my hands. She quickly aimed at Jack's head and pulled the trigger. He collapsed onto the floor with a mixture of a sigh and a scream.

"That was for Roland, asshole." she said, her voice sounding bitter. She dropped the gun on the floor next to Jack. The mask on his face was completely without any emotion whatsoever. I was kind of curious what he was hiding behind his mask, but now wasn't really the time to take a peek at his face.

"It's over...it's finally over. Good going, Vault Hunters. You...are badasses. Now... we just got to get rid of that Key." Lilith said. Salvador started walking over to the Vault Key, probably to pick it up and throw it in the lava or something, but Lilith stopped him in his tracks.

"Wait a sec - let me. You don't wanna touch this thing right now, trust me." she said and went over to the key.

"Slow down, man - I nearly bought it back there. Hey - Lilith!"

I turned around in disbelief when I heard that. Not because of what was said, but because of who said it. It was him. Alive and well. Okay, maybe not well, but definitely alive. I couldn't believe he was still alive.

"Mordecai!" I exclaimed and started running towards him. Brick was helping him walk, they both seemed fairly beat up, but they were both still absolutely 100% alive! I threw my arms around Mordecai as I almost crashed into him.

"Ouch. Careful, I'm barely alive." he said quietly.

"Sorry. Just thought you weren't alive at all." I replied with a smile. I really couldn't believe he was still alive.

"Where the hell were you guys five minutes ago?! If it weren't for the Vault Hunters, we'd all be dead!" Lilith shouted, but she had a big smile on her face. She wasn't really mad at them, hell, how could she be?

"I think that's her way of saying we won." Brick replied, a big grin on his face. I felt something dripping down my cheeks and I wasn't sure whether it was blood, sweat or tears. I didn't really care much either way.

"I figured that." Mordecai answered smiling a little. Lilith laughed quietly and turned back to the Vault Key.

"If I never see this Key again, it'll be too soon." she mumbled and put her hand on it. It started glowing a little.

"It's been fun, you alien piece of sh- Huh?"

The glow had gotten stronger and the Vault Key had started floating. It started to show some sort of projection of the sky with a whole lot of galaxies and a lot of brighter dots. What the hell was that?

"What the - are those Vaults?" Brick asked incredulously. Mordecai started laughing a little next to me.

"Hehehe. You know what that means..." he replied. Lilith looked back at us with a smile on her face.

"Yeah. Heh - no rest for the wicked." she said.

"So what are we gonna do now? I mean, Hyperion is still out there. Also, we literally have no real way to get off this planet at the moment. And like, we kinda need to see a doctor or something soon..." I said, being the practical person that I was. I was also a little worried about not being able to feel my burned foot. I mean, I should at least be in pain, shouldn't I? Everyone was looking at me in confusion. This was probably too much for everyone right now. Hell, it was too much for me, and that's why I needed it out of my head real soon.

"How about we all see what we can loot from the Vault? Then we fast travel back to Sanctuary and take care of all the wounds. Especially Nova and Mordy, you two look like shit. Then we can talk about what we'll do next." Lilith suggested.

"Sounds like a good plan." I agreed. I looked down and I had to agree that I did indeed look like shit. My leg was burnt and my shoulder hurt a lot and I definitely would get a massive scar there from the burn.

"Can't believe it's over." Mordecai mumbled. I nodded and looked at him. He was limping, had a few wounds from being shot and something that looked like it might turn into a black eye. But he was alive and that was all that counted.

"There's something I'm really curious about, honestly." I started.

"What is it?" Brick asked.

"I wanna see what's under the mask." I answered with a grin. I saw Mordecai shaking his head, still smiling though.

"Seriously?" Brick replied. I nodded.

"To be fair, I'm kinda curious, too. Let's do it." he said and followed me over to Jack's lifeless body.

I bent down and took a close look at the mask. It looked so emotionless, but so real at the same time. If you couldn't see where it was attached to Jack's face, you probably wouldn't know. He must be hiding something terrible below that thing. I shuddered a little when I reached out to see if I could pull it off.

I felt weird and a little grossed out by the fact I had to actually touch Jack's face. It just wasn't right, but my curiosity quickly got the better of me. With one swift motion I tugged on the mask and quickly pulled it off his face. It was kinda gross holding a piece of whatever kind of material it was in my hand. I tossed it aside quickly and looked at Jack's actual real face. I had never seen his real face before.

It was pretty bad. He must have looked exactly like the mask a good few years ago, but now there was a big dark scar across his face. It was the shape of an upside down V, just like the arch that was the door to the Vault. It went right over one of his eyes, so the eyeball was almost completely white. He must have been blind on one eye. How the hell did he get that massive scar?

"He's pretty ugly." Brick commented. I shrugged and got up. I had enough looking at Jack. It was really time to get back. All my painkillers were wearing off and I felt every single battle wound intensely.

I looked up and saw Jack's face right in front of me, which gave me a massive fright. I screamed and stumbled back quickly, until I heard a laugh coming from behind the mask. It was Gaige. It was Gaige fucking around with the mask I had thrown aside.

"Shit, you gave me a fucking fright!" I said. She just kept laughing more.

"You should've seen your face, oh my God!"


	83. Chapter 82 or The Lost Daughter

_song: The Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm_

Coming back to Sanctuary didn't feel like as much of a triumph as it should have been. We were tired, we had been injured and our revenge just didn't feel like a revenge at all. It was more of a necessary evil to kill Jack. It didn't make us feel any better about Bloodwing or Roland or Lilith being literally tortured.

All we had left was this sort of empty feeling, now that everything was over. We had ended it. And here we were without a purpose or a goal, besides fixing the damage, burying our dead and at some point in the future finding those new Vaults. It was pretty depressing. Zed was over having a look at all our wounds at the moment.

"Any suggestions on how we'll continue from here?" I asked from the sofa. Mordecai shrugged and watched how Zed took a look at my leg. It was still pretty badly burnt from the lava I stepped in.

"Yeah. Somebody's gotta deal with all those new Vaults." he answered.

"Dibs!" Brick chimed in with a grin.

"You can't call dibs on hunting hundreds of Vaults." Lilith replied, rolling her eyes. Brick gave her an annoyed look.

"Says you." he said.

"What you thinkin', Lil?" Mordecai asked.

"I think before we head off to deal with those Vaults we've gotta rebuild. Get a new shield for Sanctuary. Wipe Hyperion off the map... and bury our fallen. Jack may be dead, but we're not done fighting. Not by a long shot." she replied.

"I hear ya. What you think, Brick?" Mordecai wanted to know.

"I think I already called dibs on the Vault hunting." Brick answered loudly. Lilith just sighed loudly and sat down, massaging her temples. She still looked more exhausted than all of us together, even though Zed had already had a look at her and said she should be fine with a lot of rest. Physically, at least.

Poor Mordecai had a good few broken ribs, two or three bullet wounds and a pretty bad concussion. Brick was seemingly fine, compared to the rest of us. I had a massive abrasion on my shoulder, probably from that one time I fell against some rock and almost passed out, plus some grazing wounds and a good few burns from the lava, the worst one being the one on my leg.

"Do ya wanna hear the good news first or the bad news?" Zed suddenly asked me, looking up from my leg.

"Uh... the bad news?" I replied.

"I don't think I can save your foot. You're gonna need a robotic foot sooner or later, unless you wanna be limping for the rest of your life." he said. I looked at him, my mouth wide open. What the hell? Did Zed just actually say that he had to amputate my foot? Fuck. Where the hell would I get a robotic foot?

"But... how? I mean... is there nothing you can do? I don't think we can really build a cybernetic foot for me with the material we have available right now." I said, sounding confused. Zed sighed.

"No, but you might want to get your foot replaced. It won't kill you the way it is now, but you will be in pain and it won't be nice. The good news is, it could have been from the knee down, but the burns on your leg don't look as bad as the ones on your foot. Then again, I'm not a real doctor, but you know that." he answered. I looked down at my foot, which was in fact burned pretty badly.

"But... where the hell am I supposed to get a cybernetic foot?" I wanted to know. Zed just shrugged and moved on to the next person.

"I can help to program and build one, but I'm afraid we lack the materials. Although I've heard they design good ones at Maliwan and Vladof. Vladof being cheaper, obviously." Gaige replied. I was still in shock over the fact I'd have to actually sacrifice my foot.

"Fuck! We'd have to leave the planet to get that. We can't leave the planet right now. Fuck!" I muttered. Mordecai gently put his arm around my shoulders.

"It'll be okay. We'll find a way to get you something. Don't worry. Nothing we can do right now anyway." he said.

"You might wanna consider getting one from Vladof." Lilith said and tossed me a data recorder. It was one that stored data. One where you had to read lots of stuff. I didn't know if I was up for that right now.

"Why's that? And what am I supposed to do with this?" I asked her.

"Remember I said I was gonna check if among all the Hyperion data we got there would be anything on your daughter? Found something. Quite a bit actually. She's working for Vladof. Went from employee to manager of a small team within two years. In the department that designs weapons, shields - whatever you can imagine. Research and Development or something." she explained. I looked at her and then at the data recorder she had just given me.

"Are you... are you sure? I mean, are you sure that's her?" I replied. I read the record on the data recorder. It said Anouk Orlova, in some ECHO news article. Something about developing some kind of amazing sniper rifle as a graduation project and... oh my God, the gun they were talking about was the Lyuda.

"Yeah, I am pretty sure. It's the name you gave me, age is right, and it says somewhere she was adopted from Aquator. Plus, she kinda looks a little bit like you." Lilith replied. I put down the data recorder and looked at Mordecai.

"You know the Lyuda, Mordy?" I asked him, not even paying much attention to Lilith anymore. He nodded quickly.

"Yeah, one of my favourites. Why?" he answered.

"Looks like my fucking daughter helped design it." I said and showed him the article. He skimmed over it and I saw his eyes widening.

"Woah, woah, woah. That is amazing!" he replied and handed me the data recorder. Only then I remembered that I wouldn't have all this without Lilith.

"Hey, Lil. Thanks for finding all this. This is great. I've been wondering what became of her for so long and now I know... she's doing really well for herself. Better than me at that age, anyways." I said.

"No problem. There should even be a picture somewhere." she answered with a smile. I quickly scrolled through the pages until I found a picture. It looked like a very formal picture. She had shoulder-length dark hair, that was insanely curly. Her eyes were dark and almond-shaped and she had full lips. Her skin tone was a bit lighter than mine, but apart from that she looked a lot like me when I was young.

It was only then that I noticed everyone had begun gathering around me and trying to catch a glimpse of what was on the data recorder. And I didn't even mind, because I was truly amazed. I didn't think I'd ever see the little baby girl I gave away 18 years ago ever again. But there she was, all grown up.

"So she does know that she's adopted, it seems?" I said as I skimmed over some work recommendation for her.

"Seems like it. You wouldn't even spoil any secrets, when you go and see her." Lilith replied. I looked up at her confused.

"Wait, what do you mean, when I see her?"

"You know, when you go to see your daughter, since you'll have to get at least materials for your new foot."

"I'm not going to see her. If she knows she's adopted, she probably thinks I hate her. Or that I never wanted her. Or something like that. I can't go and see her now. That's just... just not a possibility. No way."

"Why not? I mean, don't you like... wanna talk to her or something?" Lilith asked. I just shrugged.

"I don't know if I can pull it off. I'll have to think about it long enough, but at the moment there is no way." I replied. To be honest, the thought of actually meeting my daughter again terrified me. It wasn't that I didn't want to see her, on the contrary, I was really curious and I really wanted to meet her. Just whenever I imagined myself meeting her, I imagined how guilty I would feel for not being around.

"Well, it's up to you anyways, but I don't know. I don't really think I would pass up a chance like that." Lilith said.

"I know what you mean. I just don't know if I can do it, you know? I might need some time."

"The real question is, is she a good shot or not?" Mordecai chimed in with a grin on his face. I laughed and shook my head, skimming through the data again.

"I don't know. It looks like the guys who adopted her are higher ups in the Vladof corporation. Like pretty close to management and all. She seems to be fairly popular in the company, not sure if it's because of her parents or because she's just nice or something..." I mumbled. I skimmed through everything faster until I saw it.

There was a picture looking like some local newspaper with Anouk holding a sniper rifle that was almost too big for her. She was grinning proudly, wearing some sort of school uniform, her hair somewhat tied back (but to no avail, it was just too wild).

"She seems to be a brilliant shot. Won her school's sharpshooting competition when she was 14... and has been winning since she was 10. I don't think I've ever felt so proud." I said. I was definitely proud enough to forget about the dilemma with my foot for a while.


	84. Chapter 83 or Broken

_song: First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar_

I woke up from hearing a loud and shrill scream and bolted upright. It took me a while to realize where I was. I was in HQ, it was the middle of the night. Where did the scream come from? I looked down at Mordecai beside me, he seemed to still be asleep and just turned around, as I looked at him.

I scanned the room and could make out some panicked breathing from the opposite corner of the room. I quickly got out of bed and walked over there. This was Lilith's bed and it didn't surprise me she woke up with a scream. After everything I would have been more concerned if she didn't have nightmares.

"Hey, Lil." I said quietly, when I had reached her bed. She seemed startled that I was there and quickly grabbed my wrist, looking at me panicked.

"It's just me, it's all good!" I said, a bit startled myself. I didn't expect her to get such a scare, but then again it was similar with me after the Gulag.

"Nova? What are you doing up? In the middle of the night?" she asked, looking at me confused and letting go of my wrist.

"Woke up from your screaming. You wanna sit outside on the roof for a while? Get some fresh air?"

"That sounds... that sounds good, thanks. Let me put on a jacket and some shoes, okay?" she replied. I nodded. I had a warm shirt on already, but with my foot wrapped in bandages my combat boots wouldn't fit me anymore, so I had taken to walking around barefoot. Not that I was walking around much anyways.

"Okay, let's go. I can really use some fresh air." Lilith said soon after. We went outside and onto the balcony and climbed up on the roof from there. I struggled a little with the climbing with my foot hurting recently, but I was slowly getting used to the paint, just because it was always there and I had neither the time nor the means to try and get a prosthetic right at this moment. We were still on Pandora without any means of interplanetary transportation and Hyperion was still very present on the planet.

Lilith and I sat down and looked at the rooftops of Sanctuary in absolute silence for a while. It looked strangely peaceful in the dark. It was peaceful for the most part, but we were quite busy trying to keep things together. Everyone wanted to get back down on the ground as soon as possible, things needed to be fixed, supplies were needed - we had a whole city to run and half of us had been close to death a few days ago.

"Nice to have some peace and quiet." Lilith said after a while and leaned back, looking up at the stars.

"You're having nightmares?" I wanted to know. I really only asked to start the conversation. I was 98% certain she was having terrible nightmares after everything she's been through. She nodded.

"Happens a lot. It's probably some withdrawal symptoms. Because I'm not getting enough Eridium." she answered.

"You never needed that much, before... before Roland died." I said and I could see her flinch a little. Shit. I knew mentioning Roland wouldn't be a great idea, but mentioning Jack holding her prisoner would potentially be worse.

"No. But I just got a lot more Eridium since then. Not that I wanted to. But I guess my body just got too used to it." she replied after a short silence.

"You sure that's the reason?"

"Yeah."

We were quiet for a little while. I laid down on the roof, staring up into the sky. The moon was still the same - big, with a massive crack on it and with the Helios space station covering up a good bit of the view.

"What exactly happened to you, Lilith?" I asked, trying the direct approach this time. She looked over to me, looking a little taken aback.

"What do you mean? Jack kidnapped me, held me prisoner and used me to charge his key, you guys got to him, stopped his little monster and I killed him and that's that." she said. I sighed and took a deep breath. I didn't think this would be easy, but it was more difficult than I thought it would be.

"We all know there was more to it than that. We're not fucking stupid and besides - Jack teased us the whole damn time about how he tortured you. And you're having nightmares about it constantly."

"And what good will it do if I tell you about it?"

"Shit, I don't know if it'll do you any good, Lilith, but we're all just trying to help you here. We're all fucking worried about you. We're your friends and we care about you and you're not doing well. So you either fucking let us help you or we can't have you lead the Crimson Raiders, because you'll be a danger to yourself and won't be able to make rational decisions for other people, okay?"

I don't know why I was getting so angry. Maybe because she was acting all tough, maybe because she reminded me of myself in some way, maybe because she was getting angry or maybe because I just felt really guilty for not getting her out sooner. Who knew. But it seemed to be helping somehow.

"Why do you think I'm not doing well?" she asked, her voice more quiet now and less agitated than before.

"Because you were part of a fucking war, in which your own boyfriend was shot in front of your own eyes, and where right after that happened, you were taken prisoner by a sadistic psychopath who pumped you full of Eridium against your will and forced you to awaken a massive rock monster that was supposed to wipe out the planet you lived on for a big part of your life, while stabbing you over and over? Just a wild guess."

Lilith sighed and hid her face in her hands and I was thinking about whether it would have been a good idea to bring a bottle of rakk ale up here. Might have made it easier, but it might have also thrown Lilith into a similar pattern as Mordecai.

"It's like some bits keep happening. In my dreams. I fall asleep and everything is good and fine for a while and then suddenly something happens. If Roland's in a dream, he just dies in some horrible way. Or I'm in some bad situation and suddenly can't use any of my powers anymore and I'm just so vulnerable. It's terrifying. I sometimes try to stay awake, because I just can't do it anymore. But I end up falling asleep anyways. Or if I manage to stay awake, I start seeing things and hearing things." she started talking and then looked at me. She did look tired, but I hadn't even noticed much, since we were all tired and there had been so much to do lately.

"Shit, what did he do to you?" I asked.

"I'd say you know most of it already. The stabbing was pretty bad, but it wasn't really the worst. I mean, it hurt, yeah, but it was worse that I felt so helpless. This weird collar that kept me from using my powers, that was one of the worst bits. Besides all the taunting. It just... I'm gonna need some time, if I'm gonna talk about it." she replied, looking almost embarrassed. It sounded pretty bad.

"Sure, take all the time you need. I'm just worried you're gonna keep it all inside and it'll slowly make you go insane. I mean, you wouldn't be the first one it happens to." I told her. She laughed quietly.

"You know what was bad?" Lilith said.

"What was bad?" I replied.

"I was thinking that Angel probably had to go through the same or at least something similar for most of her life and how terrible it is that she's dead now. She should have gotten a chance to live. Or how none of that happened if I hadn't shown up, like Roland told me to. I should have listened to him. Or I should've at least died instead of him or Angel."

"What are you saying? Things would have been worse if you hadn't intervened back then, they needed help. And Roland and Angel would have died either way. Don't blame yourself for that." I answered, not really sure if that was the right thing to say. I suspected that Lilith would feel pretty guilty about that, but I hadn't heard it out of her own mouth until just now and it made me really insecure, because Lilith was always this strong woman that could take on anything and was there to tell me what a dumbass I was. And now she was here, completely broken.

"Look, Roland told me not to come, to stay back and take care of Sanctuary. I didn't. Yeah, I might have saved him at that point, but I doubt I was the deciding factor there. The way I see it the whole mission became pretty pointless, because I came in and screwed things up. We went in to take away Jack's siren, so he couldn't charge the Vault Key. I ran after Roland and basically gave Jack a new siren. If I hadn't been there, Roland would have died the same, but at least there would have been a point to his death."

"You couldn't have known, Lil. How would you have known that Angel was a siren and that she was charging the Vault Key and Jack needed her for exactly that? You were worried about Roland. I would have done the same, if Mordecai had told me to stay behind and I realized he'd need my help." I said.

"It's nice of you to say that, but... it may take a long time for me to believe that."


	85. Chapter 84 or An Opportunity After Jack

_song: Joy Division - Shadowplay_

I was hiding behind the corner of a building in Opportunity, trying to ignore the pain in my foot. It might not have been a great idea to do this mission without pain killers, but I was trying to get away from them and under normal circumstances I could deal. I probably would be able to deal with the pain now, it just wouldn't be very pleasant.

Our group had just split up to get three different things done. The biggest group went to Opportunity to either send the remaining Hyperion workers back to the space station or... deal with them, if they refused. That group was led by Brick. Another group was making their way back into the Bunker to see if they could recover Roland's body and maybe Angel's body, so we could properly bury them. Lilith was leading that group and she had Maya and Zero with her as backup.

In the meantime, Mordecai and I were getting Bloodwing's remains, so we could bury her as well. Mordecai seemed eager to get any research files they had on her as well, so there was a chance we would head into the Wildlife Preserve soon after. Right now we were making our way into one of the research buildings in Opportunity, after hearing that that was the place they brought Bloodwing's remains.

 _"The place is clear, you can come in. Close the door behind you."_ Mordecai echoed me. He was already in the building and had scouted out the first room without me. It seemed like a lot of the buildings were abandoned. There probably weren't many Hyperion engineers left in Opportunity after Jack's death.

As I wandered over to the main door of the building, I wondered whether most of them had been ordered to return to the space station or if they were just hiding out while they were waiting for orders. Maybe they were also just waiting in the Eridium mines, guarding them, since they made more profit than Jack's fancy city.

"Is there anything important in here?" I asked Mordecai, as I stepped into the building and closed the door behind me, as he said.

As I turned around, I saw him waiting next to me, but I also saw a massive entrance hall that looked more like the lobby of one of the fancy resorts on Aquator than a research facility. Jack sure knew how to make buildings look impressive and modern, I had to give him that at least. Didn't change the fact he was an asshole dictator.

"All I found was some weird coded data and a few ECHO messages with maps that show where they planned to bring her remains, if anything went wrong. So I know where to go now. How are you holding up?" he asked.

"I'm okay. It's not too bad, I can deal with it. Anything interesting in the data you found?" I replied. Of course it was a blatant lie. I was feeling pretty bad, but if I told Mordecai, he'd send me home straight away.

"I've found some research project they kept referring to, somehow related to Blood. But it's apparently kept in the same room as her, so we should head there. It's not too far from here, but we might need to collect a few badges off some scientists if there are any left here." Mordecai said.

"What do we do if there are no more scientists here?" I asked. I hadn't seen a single corpse in this hall yet, so I was pretty sure there weren't many people left alive at this stage. They had either left or were hiding somewhere else.

"I guess we gotta find a different way in. I mean, how hard can it be, basically everything here is made of glass - glass windows, glass doors, glass panels. We should be able to break even the best glass with a rocket launcher." he suggested.

"Well, I suppose, you're not wrong..." I replied. He laughed a little and looked at his ECHO device.

"Let's go, so. We have to head through some of the corridors here and then take an elevator up to the third floor. That's where they supposedly brought her." he said. I nodded and readied my shotgun.

We were slowly peeking around the corners, quickly scouting out the whole place, just to find that all the corridors were completely empty. It was kind of eerie to be in there, waiting for someone to shoot at you, but all that was there was complete silence. Plus, it wasn't great if we needed Hyperion badges to get into some places.

We got to the elevator quickly and thankfully it was working properly. Getting upstairs was pretty smooth, not like the elevators we were used to from bandit clans or the ones in Moxxi's arenas. Those ones didn't work half the time, they were bumpy rides on a good day and straight up lethal on a bad day. This elevator however was beautifully designed and it worked smoothly. There was even some elevator music.

"This one here must be the lab." Mordecai said, as soon as the doors opened. We stood in front of a massive glass wall. There was a sliding door that was accessible only with a Hyperion badge, so going through the door was out of the question. We also couldn't really look into the lab, because all the glass was darkened. Mordecai and I looked at each other with a grin on our faces.

"Shall we blast that wall open?" he asked.

"Hell yeah." I said. I was secretly looking forward to shooting Hyperion property with a fucking rocket launcher. I quickly got it from my back and started loading it up (which took quite some time due to how heavy it was).

I put the rocket launcher on my shoulder and steadied my stance. I knew with such a short distance between the wall and me it would be one hell of a blast and both Mordecai and me would probably get showered in glass splinters. It was a terrible idea to be fair, but we didn't really have many other choices.

"Do you have something to shield us from the glass splinters? I'd say the blast itself will deactivate our shields, so we need some extra protection from the glass." I told him. Mordecai shrugged and unwrapped his bandana. He held it out over our heads, so we would be at least a little shielded.

"Will that do?" he asked.

"Probably not, but it's better than no cover. Here goes nothing." I said, hoping we wouldn't actually die from the blast, because it would be a terrible way to go. Especially after we defeated Jack.

I pulled the trigger and a massive blast followed. My ears were numb for a good while after and I could feel a few splinters hitting my legs and cutting through my cargo pants in a couple of places, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. My shield caught most of the impact, it seemed. When the ringing in my ears stopped, I opened my eyes again and saw the massive hole I had blasted into the wall.

There were shards and glass splinters all over the blackened floor. Mordecai slowly lowered the scarf from over our heads and I heard a whole lot of glass falling to the ground. His arms were bloody from the cuts a lot of the splinters had left, but apart from that he seemed to be alright. Somewhat.

"Are you okay? Do you want a health vial?" I asked him, looking up and down his arms. He shook his head.

"Maybe later, I'll be fine for now. Let's go in and look for Blood. She needs to go home." Mordecai replied and slowly walked through the hole in the glass wall. I followed him quickly. Inside there was not a single person. When we stepped inside the lights turned on. There were several glass boxes in all shapes and sizes, as well as big data terminals. We slowly made our way inside.

Most of the glass cases were empty. There was a big massive one that had Bloodwings remains in it, in the middle of the room. Mordecai and I slowly approached it, completely quiet, until I stumbled over something. I looked back and saw a body lying on the floor. He looked like a Hyperion scientist. There was a gun in his one hand and a big dried puddle of blood all around his head.

"Must've killed himself when Jack died." Mordecai said. I bent down to look at him. His eyes were closed and it didn't look as if there had been any fight. I quickly took the badge that was clipped to his shirt, before I could get upset.

"I wonder if a lot of them did that. Jack did have quite a personality cult around himself, honestly." I said, as we kept going towards the big glass case. I felt sickened by what I saw - basically Bloodwing's headless body. It was an awful sight and I didn't know how Mordecai could stand it.

"Will I leave you with her for a while?" I asked him quietly. He nodded. I turned away from the glass case and wandered through the lab for a while, looking at glass cases, some of them smashed, some with bones and weird growths in them. It was a pretty bizarre lab. I went up to a glass case that was illuminated in a weird reddish colour.

I took a closer look at it and there was something in it that looked roundish. There was a red light shining on it, it looked like a heat lamp. And the roundish thing looked like an egg. Were they breeding some random egg? That was a little odd, but not too weird for a research lab. I wondered what kind of egg it was. I looked around the glass case for a good while until I found some notes around it.

"Mordecai! Come over here, quick!" I shouted as I read what was inside this glass case.


	86. Chapter 85 or Mordecai Becomes A Mother

_song: The Smashing Pumpkins - 1979_

"What is it?" Mordecai asked after scrutinizing the egg for a while. I pointed to the sticky note on the glass case and he took it to read it quickly. There really was only one word on it, but it seemed to take Mordecai ages to actually fathom what it said. He looked up at me again and then at the egg.

"Bloodwing?" he said in a confused tone. I shrugged.

"What's that supposed to mean? Is that... does that mean the Bloodwing species? Or... do you think it could be..." he continued.

"I don't know, Mordy. Could it possibly be hers?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. Could be, I mean, look how they mutated her. I mean, they could have even cloned her. Or it could just be referring to the species." he answered.

"They've been trying to breed it whatever it is. And seems like it was some sort of important project or it wouldn't be back here with the other important stuff." I said. Mordecai gave me an unusually insecure look.

"You think... you think it's still alive?" he wanted to know.

"I dunno. Maybe. Is there any way of finding out?"

"Not really. Except for waiting until it hatches. But I have no idea how long those eggs take to hatch. I mean, I don't even know what species Blood was, so it could take years. And how would we be transporting it back to Sanctuary without killing it, I mean..."

"Shit, look!" I exclaimed, interrupting Mordecai's musings. I pointed toward an area of the egg that was showing a slight crack.

"What is... oh my God. I can see it. It's hatching. We need to open up the glass casing. Give me the badge you got from that dead guy earlier." Mordecai said quickly and held out his hand. I didn't even know he had seen me do that.

I quickly rummaged through my pockets and gave him the badge. He took off and quickly looked at the consoles in the room until he seemed to have found one that looked right to him. He fidgeted with some of the controls.

I looked back at the glass casing. The crack had gotten a little bigger. I really hoped Mordecai would get the glass case open before it fully hatched. I was thinking of just smashing the glass, but that could easily damage the egg. I could hear Mordecai swearing under his breath as he worked away on the console.

"I've got it!" he suddenly shouted and I heard a noise that sounded like the doors on the interplanetary shuttle that had brought me to Pandora. It was funny, but I could never forget that noise. It made everything sound incredibly promising. Until you saw where you ended up, but then it was too late.

As Mordecai quickly walked back to where I was standing the glass case was quickly lifted upwards and we could take a closer look at the egg. The crack had gotten bigger slowly and it looked like there was a bit of a wing sticking out from it. Mordecai carefully took a closer look at the egg.

"Are you nervous?" I asked, looking at him.

"Why do you ask?"

"You look nervous."

"Well, I've had a tiny Bloodwing to take care of, but I never had to take care of her while she was hatching, so yes, I am nervous. Honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing." he said and watched as a bit off the shell was pushed away.

Mordecai carefully reached out and took the egg in his hands, carefully holding it with both hands. He sat down on the floor, cross-legged, intently watching the hatching egg in his hands. There was some really quiet chirping coming from inside the egg and Mordecai looked almost panicked.

"Oh God, is everything okay, does it need my help? What do I do?" he asked. I laughed and sat down next to him. I had never seen Mordecai this nervous about anything. It was really sweet, he was like a mother with a baby.

I remembered how nervous I was during the first month after Anouk was born. That's how long she was with me until I had to give her away. I was so nervous the first few days, because I had no idea what I was doing. After a week I was getting the hang of it, though. Or I just wasn't as nervous anymore, who knows. I wished I could have had more time with her than just that one month.

"Don't worry, Mordecai. Birds hatch without our help all the time. Just stay calm and wait it out. No point in worrying." I said.

"Okay, yeah, you're right." Mordecai replied and nodded.

 _"You guys okay? Haven't heard from you in a good while."_ Salvador echoed me. I had almost forgotten about the rest of the group.

"Yeah, we're fine. We're experiencing a magical moment just now, will update you later." I answered and turned off my ECHO. Mordecai was nervously smiling down at the egg. The crack was almost around the whole egg, which meant it wouldn't take long now. I absentmindedly rubbed Mordecai's back.

"I never thought I'd get another bird, ever. I never thought I'd lose Bloodwing in the first place, but I always reckoned if it happened... I just wouldn't be able to do it again." Mordecai said as the top of the egg completely broke away and was lifted up slowly.

"But here you are." I replied.

"Here I am. What will I call him? It's gonna be such hard work to train him again, I hope he'll be fine with that..."

"I don't know what you'll call him, Mordecai. Just wait. He's almost hatched now, I can see his head already." I answered, as the top of the egg was lifted more and more, until it finally fell off and we looked at the egg expectantly. It was quiet for a while until we heard a high-pitched screech and the little chick inside the remaining egg shell stretched and looked at Mordecai with his pitch-black eyes.

He kept staring at Mordecai for what seemed to be hours, but probably were only a few seconds and then he chirped happily and carefully spread his wings, still looking at Mordecai. Mordecai had the biggest smile on his face, as he was looking down at the little bird. It was the sweetest thing I had seen in a long time and I felt like my heart was bursting anytime now, because I just couldn't cope with all those feelings.

"I think he likes me." Mordecai said, still a massive smile on his face.

"Yeah, you're his mum now. You gotta take care of him and feed him and everything." I replied, a big grin on my face as well. That caused Mordecai to quickly look at me, the smile suddenly gone and replaced by a worried look on his face.

"What does he eat?" he asked.

"I don't know. Do you have anything on you right now?"

"Not much, to be fair, but I can try and see if he eats anything. We should take all the data in here with us, chances are that there will be some information on this little guy." Mordecai suggested and fished for some food in his pockets.

"I'll go and copy everything while you bond with your new child, okay?" I said. Mordecai just nodded as he tried feeding the little thing a cereal bar. It wasn't going too well. I turned my ECHO back on to see if I had missed anything.

"Okay, guys, I'm back. Did I miss anything?" I asked the rest of the team.

 _"Well... the thing is, we didn't even have to go in here to finish off the Hyperion engineers. No idea what happened here, but it seemed like most of them killed themselves and others seem to have died in some other way. It's the weirdest thing. That's probably why this town had such an eerie feeling to it."_ Maya informed me.

"Oh my God, we found a guy in the research facility as well. That's kinda scary, to just walk into a building with a bunch of dead bodies." I said, shivering a little at the thought.

 _"Yeah, so anyways, we got Roland and will be returning to Sanctuary soon."_ Maya replied.

"How's Lilith doing?"

 _"She seems pretty distraught, but who'd blame her? She's doing alright, considering the circumstances."_

"That's good. Have you heard from Brick and the rest of them?" I asked, since last I heard of them was Salvador checking up on me.

 _"I think they found the few people that are still alive and are dealing with them right now."_ Maya said.

"Okay, awesome. We're going to pack up and get back to Sanctuary and then, if they still need help, we can give them some support." I told her.

 _"Sounds good. Did you have any difficulties or did everything go smoothly?"_

"Everything went pretty smoothly. We'll be back with a little surprise, I suppose."

 _"A little surprise? The hell did you guys find?"_

I looked over to Mordecai who was happily watching his new bird. He was feeding him some spiderant bits and the bird seemed more than happy with that. After a while he looked up at me, still grinning widely.

"I think I'm gonna name him Talon." was all he said, until he looked back at the bird. I shook my head laughing.

 _"His name is Talon and Mordecai has just become his mum."_ I answered Maya's question.


	87. Chapter 86 or A Fresh Start

_song: Fleetwood Mac - Dreams_

We were all sitting in a circle, Mordecai and Talon in the middle, happy as they could be. Most of the other guys had no idea what to expect when I mentioned the little surprise, but everyone loved Talon. To be fair, he was just really cute, the way he was sitting wrapped up in one of Mordecai's scarves and chirped happily at each of us. He seemed to enjoy all the attention he was getting.

"He does look a bit like Blood, doesn't he?" Lilith said, a melancholic smile on her face. She didn't seem to be able to be as excited as everyone else, but I couldn't blame her one bit. How would she be able to be excited after pulling her dead boyfriend's body out of the Control Core and bringing it back, so he could be buried?

"He does. Hey, you wanna get some fresh air? I could use a quick walk around town." I said to her. I actually couldn't use a walk at all, since my foot was still hurting and I was practically limping constantly at this stage, but Lilith looked like she needed some time away from everything.

"Yeah, that actually sounds good." she answered with an appreciative smile. I nodded and leaned over to Mordecai.

"I'm gonna take Lil outside for a while, I think she needs a bit of a break." I whispered into his ear. He gave me a slightly concerned look and then nodded, glancing over at Lilith who had gotten up and walked away from the group.

"Okay. Take care, chica. And mind your foot, yes?" he said quietly.

"You know me, Mordy. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." I answered, a goofy grin on my face.

"Yeah, I know you. That's why I'm telling you to take care. See you soon." he replied with a quiet laugh.

"See you, Mordy." I replied and went over to Lilith. She gave me a weak smile and we made our way downstairs and outside into the streets of Sanctuary. We didn't say a word, but I noticed Lilith staring at her hands a lot.

"You're not holding up too well, are you?" I asked her after a while. She just shook her head and looked away.

"Hey, you can talk to me. Did anything happen back there?" I replied.

"No, nothing happened, it's... I don't even know. It was just seeing him there and you could still see the surprise in his eyes and... it just brought it all up again." she answered and rubbed her hands nervously.

"Do you wanna sit down?" I asked her.

"Yeah, maybe." she replied. I helped her sit down right there on the sidewalk. She was looking pale and she seemed to be shivering a little. I had realized that she was having nightmares, but until now I hadn't really figured out just how bad it was for her. Seeing Roland's actual corpse did definitely not help.

"What's with your hands, Lil?" I wanted to know. She just shook her head and hid them from me quickly.

"Oh my God, show me your hands. Please, Lilith. What happened?" I questioned again. She slowly moved them from behind her back and held them out in front of her. I took a look at them and they looked normal, as usual. Except they were really red and a little bloody at a good few places.

"Did you wash your hands until they were bleeding?" I asked her, sounding more shocked than I wanted to.

"I... I don't know... they didn't feel clean... and then they started bleeding, but they still feel dirty and..."

"Oh God, Lil, what happened?"

"Nothing happened! Nothing happened, okay? It's... Angel and Roland were still lying there, just the way they died... and we had to move them, so we could go and bury them. Maya took care of Angel and I... I had to take care of Roland." she said and paused, shaking her head and looking down at her hands again.

"I had to move him and... there was dried blood and... it was just... I had to do it, but it just felt wrong... and my hands, they just wouldn't get clean, no matter how much I tried to clean them." she continued after a while.

"Oh, Lil. I'm so sorry, Lil." I said. It was really all I could say. I mean, what do you tell a friend that just had to retrieve the corpse of her dead boyfriend from the place he was shot in the back? By the psychopath that had been tormenting all of us for months at that stage and that had proceeded to kidnap her and torture her for days? It made me so sick just thinking about it, honestly.

"And... I just remembered so much and how I lost Roland and..."

She stopped after that and buried her head in her hands. I put my arms around her and slowly rocked her back and forth. She was shaking and crying in my arms and it made me cry, too. We were probably the two saddest people in the whole town, considering everyone was still celebrating Jack's defeat.

"It's okay, Lil. You need to take some time for yourself. We can get through this, okay? We can do this." I kept repeating over and over, not sure if I even believed it myself. Sure, Jack was dead, but there was still so much to do and it felt like things would never be okay again. It was a bitter-sweet victory.

"We should all be celebrating with everyone else, but here I am, crying my eyes out like a baby. I don't think I can ever be happy again, it's like I forgot how it works. And I should be happy, because I'm free again and we won against Jack. It's like I'm stuck in the time when Jack was still alive." she said after a while.

"Yeah, you know, I kinda feel the same. It's great we won against Jack, but we couldn't have known that defeating him would come at such a great cost. But isn't that always the way?" I replied.

"How do you mean?"

"We think we want something, until we have to pay the price for it." I answered. I was a little shocked at myself. I had never sounded so grown-up in my life. I was really getting old, but then again it would be worrying if I didn't after everything that happened. Lilith looked at me a little taken aback.

"I guess you're right. Things have gone to shit. They'll never get better." she answered then. I shook my head.

"Things will get better. Not today, not tomorrow, not next week. It'll take time, but things will get better, eventually. You just need some peace and quiet. Some nice alone time. You'll have to think about lots of things." I said. Lilith sighed heavily and just shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes again.

"See, that's the thing. I have no time for that. There is so much pressure on me - there are so many people depending on me. I have to take over the Crimson Raiders and organize this whole resistance into something good. I need to give those people purpose or they'll just go back to being bandits or whatever." she replied.

"We can help you with that. Don't worry about that. If you need a break, Mordecai, Brick and I can take over, for however long you need." I offered.

"People want Sanctuary back on the ground, so we have to take care of that. I don't even know how to do that or if it'll work without everyone dying, you know?"

"They'll survive a few more months in the air. Things like that need time and everyone knows it. Getting Sanctuary back on the ground can wait."

"We need to fight Hyperion and make them go back on their space station. If they stay down here, someone will get notions and become the next Jack - possibly even worse. They need to go and they need to go soon."

"We have a whole Vault Hunter team down here. Plus, the raiders. We can beat them no problem. We won't get Helios station away from here just yet, but we can get Hyperion off the planet at least. Blasting the space station out of the sky might require some engineering effort, but Scooter, Gaige and I can work something out, I'm sure."

"The new Vaults. We need to look after those, too. And keep the whole thing under wraps as much as possible. Can you imagine what's gonna happen if that map becomes public knowledge? There'll be a massive war between corporations. Everyone's gonna start running after them. So many more innocent people will die in this. We can't let that happen." Lilith continued.

"No one knows about that yet. We'll keep it quiet. Take care of the rest first. Then we can see what to do about the Vaults. We can do this, Lil. It's gonna be fine." I replied and did my best to give her a warm smile.

"I have to find a place where we can bury Angel and Bloodwing and... Roland." she added last and she looked sad again.

"That's the most difficult one, huh?"

"It is. It all just feels... like it's not enough. It's like I simply can't do enough for them after everything they did for us." she answered and started crying softly again. I hugged her and rubbed her back.

"We'll figure it out. Don't worry. We'll find a way."


	88. Chapter 87 or Oasis

_song: Fleetwood Mac - Gold Dust Woman_

I looked down over the small ghost town below me. I sat on the edge of a rooftop and had my legs dangling down. There was a hot wind blowing against my skin and normally I would have complained about how terrible it was, but the sun was slowly setting over Oasis and I had changed my regular combat gear for shorts and a shirt made of really light and airy material for now.

I had been watching Mordecai trying to train Talon for a good while now. I was surprised he started training him at such a young age, but he did well with Bloodwing, so I figured he knew what he was doing.

And Talon seemed to be growing up so fast. He had taken a liking to biting my hand, just like Bloodwing did, if didn't give her enough attention. But Talon was still far from being as well-behaved as Bloodwing. Sometimes, he was a real pain in the ass, but then at other times he was just the sweetest bird you could imagine.

I was a little worried that Mordecai still hadn't quit his drinking. He was drinking less lately, but I could see how he was struggling and I was really worried that his tolerance would go down and he would accidentally have way too much and get alcohol poisoning. I figured it wouldn't be fun to treat alcohol poisoning on Pandora. A detox wouldn't be much fun either, but hell - he'd have to go through with it at some stage.

It wasn't fun for me to get off the health vials, but I did it anyways. Hadn't used one of them in about three weeks now, but I also hadn't been in combat. The first few days were terrible, because every little muscle of my body just hurt and all the pain just felt so much more intense. It was like every little wound I had gotten the last few months started hurting again with full force - the most prominent ones being my shoulder, my foot and the massive abrasion I got from the volcanic rock.

But right now, I was doing okay. Of course, my foot still hurt a lot, but it was way better than when I started out. At the moment it only hurt when I used it a lot and I could deal with that kind of pain for a while. My shoulder had almost healed completely and the abrasion only stung when I put water on it, which was kind of a necessary evil. All in all, I was doing pretty good, as long as I didn't do too much.

Which is why this vacation was a pretty good call. It wasn't even my idea. Marcus had apparently told the Vault Hunters about some hidden treasure in the area around Oasis, so they were all up for going and looking for the treasure. Mordecai and I just tagged along to relax, maybe get a few bounties from the bounty board if we felt like it.

Apparently, Oasis had been very different from what it was like now. There used to be lots of water and it seemed to be a popular tourist destination, but it seemed that all the water dried up with Hyperion's mining operations and all that was left was some barren desert wasteland. Which didn't really matter much to Mordecai or me, it was cheap to go there, it was a change of scenery and we could relax away from Sanctuary for a while.

Even though we were far away from Sanctuary and all the stress and pressure and all the problems there, I still found myself worried over everything. I kept thinking about whether Lilith was doing okay, whether Brick was okay looking after the city and Tiny Tina at the same time, whether Tannis storing Roland's, Bloodwing's and Angel's bodies would go according to plan and anything else that could possibly go wrong.

But at least Lilith and I were kept from talking about each other's concerns which only led to us both panicking after a while. So that was good. And I realized that I did manage to forget about everything sometimes. Not too often, but sometimes I could at least get some peace of mind. I hadn't had that in a long time.

With a sigh I took a sip from my glass of water. There were no fancy hotels or anything around here, just a guy selling lemonade and a few corpses he seemed to keep in good condition, so he wouldn't go completely insane. Mordecai and I had decided to treat ourselves and use some of the glasses in the houses to drink water, just to make it look fancier.

Water was a pretty rare thing out here anyways and I was glad we took a good few massive containers with us. Shade - who apparently was the only living guy in this town - was insanely grateful to get one of them, so that was a plus.

"You okay?" I heard a voice ask from behind me. I turned around and saw Mordecai standing there. Talon was sitting on the edge of the rooftop, looking like he had dozed off after the long day he had.

"Yeah, I am. You're back pretty early." I replied.

"Talon got tired, so I figured we should call it a day. Would you be up for some scouting?" Mordecai asked. I swung my legs over the ledge I was sitting on and stood up, making sure I didn't hurt my foot too much.

"Why do you wanna scout out some place?" I wanted to know with a grin. I was pretty sure he had found something on the bounty board that he was curious about and wanted to do. He gave me his ECHO device without saying anything. And sure enough there was a bounty there. I pressed the play button.

 _"Pip pip! Sir Hammerlock here with a bit of a job for you. I've heard tell some... creature is sneaking around Hayter's Folly, stealing treasure, slicing off faces and the like... sounds terribly interesting. Hunt it down, would you?"_

"Sounds pretty interesting. Where's Hayter's Folly?" I asked.

"It's up towards the north, we gotta go through the coastal caverns to get there. I heard they look amazing." he answered with a smile on his lips.

"Okay, but under one condition." I replied, grinning about how much Mordecai tried to hide that he was a total romantic at heart.

"What condition?"

"I get to drive."

"Fine. But only if your foot is okay. I'll take over once it starts hurting. Deal?" he said.

"Deal." I answered and was pulled into a tight hug. I rested my head against his chest. I had realized how it was one of the single most comforting things (never mind my hair getting caught in some bits and bobs of clothing).

"What have you been up to while I was gone?" Mordecai asked. I just shrugged.

"Nothing much, really. Just been sitting on the roof, watching the sunset and slurping my water. That's all." I answered.

"Was it fun?" he replied. I laughed.

"It was nice. I wouldn't exactly call it fun, but I can live without fun for a while if it means I can relax." I said.

"Fair enough."

Mordecai gave me a warm smile and I suddenly remembered something that I wanted to do ages ago already. I had just forgotten all this time and I felt really bad about it. I knew it would be something special to Mordecai.

"Give me a second, I gotta grab something. Wait right here." I said and quickly went inside and down the stairs. I grabbed a longish wooden box. I had made it myself, out of old crates and random wood I had found around the place. It was pretty annoying to get everything together and I had to be on Scooter's back for ages, so I could get all the tools for it. I quickly walked back up onto the roof with the box.

"What's that?" Mordecai asked. I handed him the box quietly.

"Open it." was all I said. Mordecai looked at me with raised eyebrows and then slowly proceeded to open it. I hoped he would like it and it wouldn't just make him sad. He looked into the box for a good while and then looked up at me. I was anxious to see a reaction from him, but it was difficult to read any emotion from him right now.

"Are they... are they her feathers?" he asked quietly.

"Yes. I asked Gaige to get some when it happened. I thought you'd like to have something to remember her." I answered. Mordecai carefully closed the box again and set it aside, just to pull me into another tight hug.

"Thank you. I thought I'd have nothing left of her after I bury her and it was the worst feeling in the world." he said quietly as he held me close. I was relieved he didn't get upset about it for whatever reason.

"I'm glad I could give you something to remember her, then." I replied. Mordecai gently kissed me on the cheek.

"There is something I wanted to tell you, too. For a good while now." he said to me, as he let me go, but kept holding onto my shoulders and looking into my eyes. Until now I hadn't even noticed he had taken off his goggles.

"What is it?" I asked, kind of anxious it was something I wouldn't like to hear.

"Remember Hero's Pass? When I got swarmed by loaders and Brick came up to help me out and we got separated? And I thought I'd die and it was a miracle Brick and I both survived and you guys survived?"

"Yeah, I do. Why?"

"I heard what you said back then. And I didn't get a proper chance to reply until now, but... I love you, too."


	89. Chapter 88 or Leisure Sniping

_song: Sister Nancy - Bam Bam_

"Man, you were right. The caverns are really nice. Shame about all the pirates here." I said, scanning the area through my scope.

"I know, right? They can spoil the nicest places. You ever had anything like pirates on Aquator?" Mordecai asked.

"Well, not really that many pirates, but we had a good few slums outside the really touristy areas and a lot of people from there would try to get into the resorts and rob people blind. Or kidnap and murder them. It was fairly common that they tried, but they'd only succeed a select few times." I replied.

"Security must have been good there."

"Yeah. My dad was working in security for a good while. Led to me having a good few knives at my throat when I was young." I said, grimacing a little thinking back on the feeling of cold steel against my skin.

"Oh God, knives are the worst, cause you know if they go through with it, they'll make it slow and painful." Mordecai responded. I looked over at him.

"Didn't know you had people putting knives to your throat." I said, a little surprised. I knew, Mordecai got beaten up a good few times, but he hadn't really told me of anything worse than that.

"Well, kids are cruel little shits and the kids on Artemis didn't like me much. And I didn't like them much, either. It only happened like once or twice, but it was the absolute worst. I hated it when it happened." he answered.

"Yeah. Makes you feel really vulnerable and helpless. You just know it's gonna be painful. But with me, they either just used me as a hostage or someone from security killed them first. Was super scary, though." I agreed.

"Yeah. One time I was lucky and they just wanted to scare me and left me alone after that. The other time, they were serious, I think. But I had Bloodwing back then, he was still pretty young, but he just came flying in and scratched them up pretty good. Probably saved my life. You ever had a gun held to your head as a kid?" Mordecai asked.

"Yeah, but like only once or twice with the guys trying to break into the resorts. Guns were way too expensive for them. This sounds really dark, but it wasn't as scary, because you kinda knew it wouldn't take long for you to die from being shot. Bleeding out seemed like worse of a prospect. I did however have guns held to my head for laughs and giggles when I was high on something or drunk. That was more a businessman kinda thing, though. Dangerous as shit, if I think about it now, but I was young and really fucking stupid." I told him. I laughed a little, because thinking back on it, it was the most stupid thing I could have come up with. Mordecai shook his head.

"That's wild, chica. You were one wild girl. Still are, if you ask me. In your own way." he said and looked through his scope again. We weren't really in a rush to get to Hayter's Folly, so we had been taking our time watching the pirates.

"Why, have you had many guns held to your head as a kid?" I asked. Mordecai nodded and gave me a goofy grin.

"Yeah. Hunting was always a big thing on Artemis, so kids could easily get a hold of a gun, even though it was only legal to have one with 16. That is, outside of shooting ranges and so on and so forth." he said.

"Artemis sounds like the weirdest place." I replied and shook my head.

"Kinda was. But Aquator sounds weirder."

"It was weird. Do you ever wanna go back to Artemis?" I asked. I was kind of curious to see what he'd say. I had been thinking about possibly visiting Aquator once I had enough money for it, but I wasn't sure yet.

"Well, I kinda got a bounty on my head for a certain time, but... I think that should be running out soon. I might go back, who knows. Maybe if I'm not banned from the shooting competitions anymore. Who knows. You ever wanna go back to Aquator?"

"I'm not sure. I've been thinking about it. I mean, I'm kinda curious what it'll look like now and what happened to everyone I knew. But I don't know. I'm far from having enough cash for that anyways." I said. Mordecai nodded and then looked through his scope again. I did the same thing and saw a bunch of pirates just walking around in plain sight. They had no idea they were being targeted by us.

"You wanna go and loot some pirate treasure?" Mordecai asked without looking up. I grinned widely.

"Hell yeah. Let's make it quick." I replied and not a second later I heard a single, loud shot. One of the pirates collapsed and fell to the ground, while the rest of them were looking around in confusion. I quickly aimed at one and took him out within seconds, just as I heard another shot from Mordecai.

We took most of them out before they even knew what was going on and the rest of them on their way up to the ledge we were positioned on. It was quick and easy. Thankfully, because I started getting a little trouble with my foot from the heat. I hoped it was a little cooler in Hayter's Folly.

"What a romantic little shootout." Mordecai commented and shouldered his sniper rifle, a big smile on his face. Talon had found his way back to Mordecai's shoulder during the short fight and was sitting there quietly.

"Well, you just know what I like by now." I replied grinning. We strolled down into the coastal caverns slowly, picking up some ammunition and money on the way. We had a look into a few houses and found a few safes with a good amount of cash in them, but nothing too fancy.

There were some really nice guns in some of the houses, that would make a decent amount of cash, so we set them aside and locked them away to get them on our way back. Now that it was almost dark, the wind got a bit more chilly.

"How is your foot doing? You okay?" Mordecai asked, sounding genuinely concerned. I looked down at my foot.

"Not sure. It hurts and it feels a little swollen, but it's not too bad. For now, at least. When we get inside the cave, I'll have to take off the boots and rest for a little while." I replied. It was still kind of a bummer for me that I'd have to get a cybernetic foot. Yes, Gaige had been raving about how many cool extras I could get and how awesome they could make those feet, but I would still have preferred my own organic foot.

But that was something I'd have to worry about when I had the necessary cash for a robotic foot. Or at least to get the materials I needed for one. Maybe I'd have to return to Aquator after all, work there for a while. The amount of cash you could get working there was insane, but so were the prices for rent. Unless you lived in the slums, which after Pandora probably wouldn't be too bad.

I forced myself to think of something else and looked around me. We had reached the end of the little hill we were walking down. There were high cliffs around us with only one narrow road leading back up again. There were palm trees growing in front of the makeshift houses. The huts looked like they were about to fall apart. In front of us was a structure made of dark rock. There was a little opening, which seemed to be the entrance to Hayter's Folly, but it looked insanely dark and murky.

"This is it. You ready to go in? It's most likely gonna be a bit colder in there." Mordecai said and nodded towards the cave entrance.

"Yeah, sure. Let's go." I replied and walked towards the dark tunnel. I started limping a little with the terrain becoming more uneven. Mordecai noticed I was struggling and put my arm around his shoulders, so he could help me walk. Which was a great help, because the ground got pretty slippery as soon as we entered the cave.

All we could see ahead of us was a dark tunnel and it only got darker. There didn't seem to be any light source whatsoever, except the faint light from our ECHO devices. I was surprised we still got a signal down here. After all, we were surrounded by thick, massive rock walls. Just as I was thinking about whether it would ever get brighter and how we should have taken some light source with us, there was a bright light at the end of the tunnel.

As we got closer, we saw the most amazing thing in front of our eyes. There was a bright light coming in through some holes in the cave. It was illuminating a roundish area with several tunnels leading out of it. But the best thing was - there was water there. Lots of water. It was like there was a little lake in the middle of the cave. The water didn't look very deep, but it looked clean and beautiful.

"Wow..." I mumbled, as I stared at the cave in amazement. Mordecai smiled at me and let go of me, so I could roam around the cave freely.

I limped over towards the water and set down on a small ledge. The water was really shallow. It wasn't ice cold, but it was nice and refreshing. I quickly too off my heavy combat boots and my socks that were drenched in sweat and some nasty liquid from my wound by now and put them next to me. I slowly rolled up the legs of my pants and emerged my feet in the water. It felt a little like pins and needles at first, but I got used to it soon and it was just the best feeling in the whole wide world.

"Good trip?" Mordecai asked with a smile and sat down beside me. I nodded.

"Very good."


	90. Chapter 89 or Unexpected Intervention

_song: Buena Vista Social Club - Chan Chan_

I only realized I had fallen asleep, when I woke up and suddenly panicked, because I was still in the cave, it was dead silent and I remembered we hadn't really scouted out the cave for enemies or anything. I sat up quickly and realized that Mordecai was asleep as well, right next to me. I wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not, but at least we weren't dead or kidnapped, so that was a start.

"Hey, Mordy. Mordy, wake up." I said and gently tapped his shoulder. He mumbled something and blinked.

"Wha- what's going on? What's happening?" he asked, rubbing his eyes and slowly sitting up, looking around.

"The hell are we?" he wanted to know after scrutinizing the cave for a short while. I laughed a little.

"Hayter's Folly. We gotta kill this Grendel thing, whatever the hell it is. Did we ever scout out the place?" I replied. Mordecai gave me a confused look for a second and then seemed to remember all the details.

"Ah, yes. Place was clear. There is a little tunnel we have to go through I cleared that out earlier. There weren't many pirates there. We should be fine for now." he said. I nodded and grabbed my boots to put them on, but Mordecai stopped me and shook his head. I gave him a questioning look.

"You might wanna wait, because you're gonna like the tunnel I found." he told me and gave me a mischievous smile.

"Do I have to worry?" I asked.

"No, I think you'll enjoy it. Let's go."

"Alright." I said, not quite sure if I could trust him just yet. Mordecai got up and once again he looked like some sort of elegant cat to me. I followed him, walking through the water basin. It was even more beautiful with daylight shining in through the holes, making the water glistening in a beautiful turquoise.

"So is this Grendel thing far?" I asked while we crossed the lake walking towards a tunnel that was shimmering in a weird greenish light.

"I've got the location of its lair on my ECHO, doesn't seem to be too far, so we should be able to get it done today. But who knows if its always there or how long it'll take until we'll find it." Mordecai answered.

Next thing I knew was that we were standing in the tunnel. It still had that strange greenish glow to it. There was a small little river flowing down towards the end of the tunnel. It was absolutely beautiful. I carefully dipped my feet into the small stream. The water was really cold and the rocks in the riverbed were smooth and cool. It felt insanely good to just hold my burned foot into the stream of water.

"Did I promise too much?" Mordecai asked, a big grin on his face. I shook my head no and smiled.

"This is amazing. We should go and kill this Grendel thing and then come back here. The cold water is really good." I said, carefully putting on my boots. I knew that if we stayed here for a while I'd spend the whole day at this river and we had things to do. It would be better to come back later.

"I'm glad it's helping."

"Going down here for the bounty was one of the best ideas ever. This place is absolutely amazing."

"Yeah, and we'll probably get more cash down here. Maybe we can get you a new foot with that, what do you think?" Mordecai said. With that, I got a sudden weird sense of panic spreading inside my mind.

"Yeah, maybe. I don't know. Maybe I just won't get a new foot." I replied.

"What? What do you mean, you won't get a new foot?" Mordecai asked. He didn't sound too happy.

"It's just scary, okay? First of all, Zed would have to amputate my burned foot and that is a very scary prospect. Then I need a foot and Gaige and Zed would have to help with that and as much as I have faith in Gaige's abilities, she's 18 and accidentally killed her classmate. It's scary, okay?" I answered.

"Chica, we've had this discussion many, many times. Look at you, you can't walk for long, you're in pain if you walk more than you should. You can't constantly be on painkillers, it's not good for you."

"Why can't I constantly be on painkillers, if you can constantly be drunk?" I blurted out. Oops. I hadn't really meant to say that. I looked at Mordecai, a somewhat shocked expression on my face. He seemed a little taken aback by it. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. I mean, I did want to bring his drinking up. At some stage. Not now. And not like that. He looked hurt and I had barely ever seen him like that. I fucked up.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say it like that, I..."

"Let's just get this job done, okay?"

I nodded, the panic in my mind getting worse. I shouldn't have said that. I didn't even want to say that, it just somehow spilled out of my mouth. We walked into another big cave that had a big lake in the middle of it and waterfalls all around it. It would have been mind blowingly beautiful, if I wasn't panicking so much right now.

Mordecai and I quickly climbed over to some waterfalls on the rocks and found a little wooden pathway leading higher up into the rock and behind some of the waterfalls. All of a sudden, my ECHO turned on.

 _"When you do find this creature, please deal with it quickly. The poor fellow who echoed me about the situation, name of Jesse... well, the creature wore his face like a jockstrap."_ Sir Hammerlock's voice said. It sounded distant and distorted, but that didn't make it less concerning.

Just as the ECHO message had finished a massive crystalisk rose from the ground and stomped towards us. I aimed at the glowing parts on its feet and shot at it quickly a few times. The crystals shattered and so did the crystals on the leg Mordecai was aiming at. We looked at each other and then both aimed at the third leg. The crystalisk collapsed and shook the cave a little. I looked at Mordecai, hoping he wouldn't be mad at me, but he had already started walking further along the little tunnel.

We came into another, smaller cave that was full of sand and... garbage. There was metal junk all over the place, it literally looked like a bandit settlement in the Middle of Nowhere. Was this the place?

"Must be around here somewhere." Mordecai mumbled and started walking ahead through the piles of trash. I followed him, my gun loaded and ready, since I was on edge myself. I could feel how my foot started to hurt a tiny bit, as if I had been walking long. Must be the climbing earlier that caused it. Or the fact I didn't take many painkillers with me and decided to save them just in case.

There was a loud roar coming from one of the garbage piles and I saw a massive creature that looked a bit like a bullymong (only about three times as big) standing on top of it. It jumped down quickly and came running at us, which made the ground and the walls shake and made a few small rocks fall from the cave.

"I think we found it!" I shouted and looked over at Mordecai who took his time aiming as Grendel came running at him. I didn't think I could panic any more than I already did, but somehow it was possible and I shot a whole round of pistol pullets into the thing, doing almost no damage whatsoever.

But it was distracted and at least wouldn't kill Mordecai. It came running at me and I ran off while I tried getting the shotgun that I had slung over my shoulder ready and loaded. My tiny pistol couldn't really do anything against a massive rock creature. I could feel my foot hurting like hell, but I forced myself to run, even though the pain was excruciating.

Thankfully, it didn't take long until I heard a shot that came unmistakably from a sniper rifle. Grendel howled behind me and I finally managed to load the shotgun. I got a bit of a fright, when I turned around and saw just how close it was to me. I could see a pretty bad wound at its neck, which must have been where Mordecai had hit him. I aimed straight at its face and shot both pellets.

Grendel roared again loudly and leaped at me, just as I got some distance between us by quickly running backwards. He didn't get me, but I fell on my back when he landed just in front of me. I couldn't move for a few seconds and all I could see was Grendel hovering above me and slowly moving in.

This was it. This was how I died. And Mordecai would forever be mad at me. I closed my eyes and got ready for an insane amount of pain, when I heard another shot from a sniper rifle and a loud groan from Grendel. I opened one eye and saw him slowly collapsing. I quickly scurried away, so I wouldn't get buried under it. Mordecai came running over to me quickly. We just looked at each other without saying a word, while the ECHO turned on again.

 _"You've killed it? Wonderful. Now, if you could return to the bounty board, we can see about stapling Jesse's face back onto his skull."_


	91. Chapter 90 or Almost Like Aquator

_song: Guns'N'Roses - Paradise City_

When the ECHO message ended, Mordecai and I were still staring at each other, frozen in place as if neither of us had any idea what to do next. My legs were kind of buried under one of Grendel's arms, but I could get them out with a bit of force. Mordecai snapped out of it first and walked over to me, getting down on his knees next to me and lifting Grendel's arm a little so I could get out easier.

I quickly pulled myself out and pulled my legs in close, basically hugging them, while I stared at the dead rock creature. I was too afraid to look back at Mordecai and seeing him angry or hurt again. That was, until I felt a hand on my shoulder and out of reflex looked up and straight into his face.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking concerned.

"Uh... Yeah, yeah, I think so." I answered. I didn't really expect that question. I don't know what I expected, honestly.

"Shit. Don't do that again. You could've died." he said.

"Well, so could you. You were just standing there while this thing came running right at you. I distracted it for you." I replied. It wasn't like he couldn't have died just as easily. And I was close to death a million times already, one more time wouldn't hurt. Maybe I was meant to be dead years ago, anyways.

"I had it under control. I had a plan. Do you think I would just stand there if I didn't have a plan?" he told me.

"I'm sorry, you didn't look like you had much of a plan." I replied. He looked at me for a second that seemed like an hour and then hugged me tightly.

"I was scared you were actually dead. For good this time." Mordecai said quietly. I relaxed a little and leaned into the hug.

"And I thought you'd be dead if I didn't do anything and you'd be mad at me just before you died. And that would have been terrible." I told him and gave him a sheepish look. Maybe everything would be good after all.

"I'm not mad at you. I was never... maybe, I was a little mad. But you're right. I guess." he said and sighed.

"You guess?"

"It's difficult, okay? I know I have a problem and I promised to stop ages ago. It's really not that easy."

"So I can keep my foot?" I asked, grimacing. I was only saying that because I was being stubborn. The adrenaline from the fight was wearing off and I just realized how much pain I was in, because of my foot.

"No. I get rid of the booze, you get rid of the foot and get a new one, okay?" Mordecai suggested. I blinked in surprise. I mean, Mordecai had said he'd get rid of his booze a lot of times, but he never looked and sounded this serious. For some reason, this was the first time I was actually willing to believe him.

"Okay. Sounds like a deal. But I need to get the money for a robotic foot first. And I won't commit to anything involving my daughter. I just don't know if I'm ready for that or if I ever will be." I replied.

"That's okay. I might not be able to make it first try, either. If you're going to try and get better, then I will, too. Plus, I couldn't raise Talon properly if I'm drunk all the time." Mordecai said with a sigh.

"Deal."

"Deal. Let's get out of here, so. Can you walk?" he asked me. I carefully got up and walked a few steps. I couldn't really use my leg much, but I could limp pretty well, so I was fine compared to the days when I couldn't even do that.

"I'll be fine. It's not like we're running a marathon." I answered and gave him a thumbs up. He raised an eyebrow, but didn't question my judgment too much. We had gotten into a few arguments over this and they usually ended unresolved, but Mordecai had gotten a little less protective, since my foot had gotten a little better.

"Let me know if you need help at some stage." was all he said. I nodded and followed him out of the cave.

"Thanks, Mordy." I replied, but I wasn't sure he had heard it, since he was pretty far ahead. I tried limping a little faster.

"So what's the plan now? Do we go back to the bounty board?" I asked, a little louder this time, as I was catching up.

"First of all, we take a swim in one of the lakes. The water is nice and cold, it'll be good for your foot. And then, depending on how tired we are, we can loot the place. And then we go back to the bounty board and get some extra cash. How does that sound?" he asked me. I smiled at him.

"Sounds perfect."

We went back through the tunnels and soon got to the cave that had all the waterfalls in it. This seemed honestly like the perfect place to go swimming. My foot hurt so much, I really couldn't wait to dip it in the cold water already. Plus, I was really sweaty and there was sand sticking all over my skin.

"This place looks perfect for a swim. What do you think?" I said, smiling. I didn't even wait for an answer, I just started untying the laces on my boots right there. I couldn't stand to wear shoes even for a second longer. Sitting down on the cold rock, taking off my boots and hearing the cold water lap at the rock of the cave suddenly threw me back to my time on Aquator - 14 year old me running through the sand at the beach barefoot, not a care in the world, some few friends with me.

You know, sometimes you do something or hear something or get a certain smell in your nose and all of a sudden you feel weird and wrong and different, even nostalgic and you're not sure whether to be happy or sad or anything in between? That had just happened to me. I slowly put my boots next to me.

"Is everything okay?" Mordecai asked.

"Yeah, yeah, why are you asking?"

"You just kinda stared off into the distance with this weird look on your face. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking of something. This place kinda reminded me of Aquator a little. I used to go down to the beach after school. Sometimes, when I was ditching school, too. Had a small group of friends, most of them are dead now. That was when I was 14. It always seemed like a long time ago, but just there it was like I was back." I explained. Mordecai sat down next to me, untying the laces of his boots.

"Sounds like fun. I wish I had had a beach to go to whenever I ditched class." he answered and laughed. I started taking off all the little pouches and holsters I had hanging around my legs and on my belt.

"Where did you go when you were ditching?" I asked him.

"There weren't too many places to go. There was a pretty cool forest around, but it was an hour walk to get there. When I didn't feel like walking that far I'd just go to some abandoned houses. Anywhere, really. No one cared much whether I was there or not." he answered with a small shrug.

"That's kinda sad."

"No, it was great, because I could do whatever the hell I wanted. How do you think I learned how to shoot so well? I practiced all the time with this crappy little pistol I had found on some dead guy. I couldn't afford a proper rifle, so that pistol had to do. There were a couple of times I almost got killed while stealing ammo, though." he said.

"That sounds pretty rough. See, I never even held a gun in my hand, before I came to Pandora. Except for the few times I played Russian Roulette. Almost died there, too." I replied. Mordecai laughed a little.

"Sounds like we didn't grow up in wildly different places after all." he said. I looked up at him and smiled.

"No, probably not. Shit. I just realized how much I miss a properly functioning shower. I didn't even realize I didn't have one for... how long now... 15 or 16 years?" I said unbuttoning the light blouse I was wearing as protection from the sun. I was wearing my usual tank top below it, but without the blouse my skin would be red and blistery by now.

"The sanctuary ones are proper showers." Mordecai protested, but I just shook my head and stood up, so I could take off my pants.

"If you think that they are proper showers, you've never even seen a proper shower. They're alright, they're decent, they will do, but... damn, a shower that actually always works and always has the right temperature water and is clean... whole different story." I told him and stepped out of my cargo pants. I probably should have gone swimming with them, considering how dirty they were. But I really couldn't wait to finally get into the water. I quickly pulled my tank top over my head.

"No, you're just spoiled." Mordecai said with a grin and got up. I was about to protest when I felt him give me a little push, which made me stumble and fall into the water.

"Oh, fuck you!" I shouted at him and laughed, once I reached the surface again.


	92. Chapter 91 or Not Jealous At All

_song: Ky-Mani Marley - New Heights_

I let myself fall on the bed back in our house in Oasis. I was exhausted after getting back and hanging up all the wet clothes, so they could dry. Mordecai had gone to get some food and he was just coming back. I could hear him at the door.

Which was kind of funny, because Mordecai was always really quiet. He was just too used to his hunting and his sniping. At first, he had managed to sneak up on me all the time, but it wasn't that easy for him anymore. I had developed some sort of sixth sense for his presence - I sometimes called it my Mordy sense. I heard the door creaking open and Mordecai walking inside barefoot. I smiled up at him sheepishly, as he took off his goggles and sat down beside me.

"What'd you get us?", I asked.

"Some fried skag meat, some spiderant snacks and fish. And some nice, clean water." he answered. I sat up.

"That sounds good. I can't believe you're not as tired as I am." I said, shaking my head in disbelief.

"I am tired, don't worry."

"But you never sleep! You maybe sleep for two or three hours each day, but apart from that you're up and wandering around."

"It's the alcohol. Makes it difficult to fall asleep without it." Mordecai mumbled and put down the food.

"That sounds pretty bad, to be honest. I always just thought you were a pretty restless person by nature." I said.

"Who says I'm not?" he replied with a big grin on his face. I laughed a little and shook my head. Of course he was a pretty restless person. But even for a restless person so little sleep wasn't normal.

"Will it get better? The sleep?" I asked him. He just shrugged.

"I hope so. We'll see."

Talon - who was sitting on a bedside table - gave us a loud and demanding caw. Mordecai sighed and searched the bag of food for some skag meat, before he held it out to Talon. The bird came flying over and landed on my leg next to Mordecai. Thankfully, he seemed really comfortable with both of us.

"You are one hungry bird, aren't you, Talon?" Mordy said and gave him the skag meat. He chewed it up quickly.

"Gotta grow big and strong." he added and fished another piece of skag meat out of the bag. He held it in front of Talon and then higher up, so he had to jump up a little to get to it. Talon eyed the skag meat suspiciously and cawed again, as if he was complaining about Mordecai not just giving him the meat.

"Poor Talon, has to work for his food." I mumbled. Talon cawed angrily in my direction and focused on the meat again. I grinned. Talon could be a little diva sometimes, but he was still a wonderful bird.

"Come on, little guy, you gotta do something for your treats." Mordecai said to him quietly. Talon spread his wings a little and tapped his claws nervously on my leg. It didn't take long for him to jump up and catch the skag meat in his beak. Mordecai smiled at him and carefully scratched his neck.

"Good boy. That's all for now. How about you go and scout out the area a little, hm, Talon?" he said to the bird. Talon cawed and hopped down from my leg and onto Mordecai's shoulder. Mordecai got up and walked over to the balcony. Once he was there, he stretched out his arm and Talon hopped down until he was holding onto Mordecai's wrists. From there he flew up into the sky and drifted away into the sunset.

"He's growing fast, isn't he?" I said, as Mordecai was coming back inside. He nodded, a melancholic look on his face.

"He is. They all do. He's a good boy, though. You know what the Vault Hunters are up to?" he asked, probably changing the topic before Bloodwing could come up. I shrugged. I had no actual clue.

"I dunno. I was going to send an ECHO to see how Lilith was doing back in Sanctuary. I can send something out to the rest of the guys as well?" I said.

"Sounds like a plan." Mordecai answered and got up to put the food he got on some plates, so we could eat it properly. I lazily grabbed my ECHO device from the bedside table and started recording a message for Lilith.

"Hey Lil, how are you doing? Just wanted to check in quickly to see if everything is okay." I said and sent the message. I got an answer straight away.

 _"Hey, I'm alright. Things are still pretty stressful, but I think I've got it under control mostly. People want the city back down on the ground, so yeah, I might see if I can find some way of getting that done."_ Lilith answered.

"Cool, cool. Sounds good. Don't do anything stupid, though. Not without us, at least."

 _"What, me? I would never!"_ Lilith answered and was gone from the line. I shook my head grinning.

"She'll totally get into some sort of trouble. And Brick will be all for it." Mordecai commented, shaking his head and grinning.

"Yeah, I wouldn't expect anything else from those two, to be fair. Anyways, I'm gonna check in on Gaige, see what they've been up to. I mean, we've barely seen them around, to be fair, they always come running here for some more information, ammo, health vials and then they're off again in their fancy boats." I said.

"Yeah, well, I mean they're not here to relax like we are. They're here to find some treasure or something." Mordecai replied and came back with the food. I grabbed a piece of skag meat from one of the plates and started chewing on it while looking for Gaige's frequency on my ECHO device.

"Yo, Gaige." was all I said. Gaige was usually quick to respond. Whenever she had time, she was constantly fiddling with her ECHO.

 _"Yo, Nova. What's up?"_ she answered promptly. Mordecai raised an eyebrow at me. Maybe I was getting a bit too old to have this young people lingo. Then again, did I really care? No. No, I didn't.

"Just checking in on you guys. What have you been up to?" I asked.

 _"Okay, we've been working with this pirate chick to go and find the treasure and we just got back from seeing this weird old dude. It was G-R-O-S-S. He was completely obsessed with her."_ Gaige said.

"Obsessed? In what way?"

 _"Like he apparently used to work with Captain Scarlett - that's the pirate chick - and he was like really, really old. And he got this idea in his head that they were in love or in a relationship or something. Like, he properly stalked her."_

"Okay... kinda creepy. What'd he do?"

 _"So, we found all those weirdass ECHO recordings around the place, of him recording her in her sleep and all that stuff. Like, really really creepy. And he'd been writing cringy poems for her and... it was terrible. And disturbing. And I think I'm more traumatized right now, than when Marcie's head exploded. Ugh."_ Gaige said, sounding seriously disturbed. To be fair, it sounded pretty bad.

"So then what happened?" I asked.

 _"Well, we needed to get this compass piece from him and it was in a chest and he lost the key. We only hear all of that after we give him back his weird ECHO recordings. Anyways, we shot the lock off, but destroyed the compass piece in the process. I think there is a plan to get something to repair it and..."_

 _"It's Polycritin."_ Maya tapped into our conversation.

 _"Yeah, anyways. We're on our way to a Hyperion Refinery to get this stuff. Fingers crossed we won't die."_ Gaige echoed and laughed. I sometimes wondered if we were all getting a little too used to the idea of dying on this planet. Then again, who could really blame us? We could have died so many times already and didn't. It was like we were constantly prepared to die at any given time.

"Yeah, well, good luck with that. Sounds like a ton of work. I'll be back in Oasis, chilling in the sun with some snacks and some water." I said to her.

 _"I'm not jealous at all."_ Gaige replied, sounding a little sour.

"Have fun, guys!"

 _"Thanks."_

I tossed my ECHO device to the side again and sat up to have some water and get some food. I was really hungry right about now and I was glad that Mordecai had actually gone to get some food.

"You happy to be here and not out treasure hunting with them?" Mordecai asked. I grinned.

"Hell yeah."


	93. Chapter 92 or Ban Lifted

_song: Eddie Vedder - Hard Sun_

"This. Is. Amazing. How did you manage to get us this place, Lil?" I asked, looking around an almost empty room. Lilith had somehow managed to get me and Mordecai an empty apartment in Sanctuary, not too far from HQ and not too far from Scooter's or anywhere else, really. It wasn't anything special, but it was clean and tidy and right now that was all that really mattered to me.

"Girl, with everything we all managed to do so far you ask me how I managed to get you a small, crappy apartment?" Lilith replied with a laugh. I went over to the walls and touched them. They felt cold and smooth and perfect.

"This is awesome. I love this place already. I'm totally gonna have a housewarming party today." I said.

"If you do it today, there won't be a lot of people coming, though."

"Why not?"

"Would only be me, you and Mordy. Maybe Brick and Tina. Maybe Marcus, but I'd doubt it. Claptrap if you'd even wanna invite him." she said. I looked at her, a little confused. Sure, I was somewhat out of the loop with what was going on in Sanctuary right now, since we all had just come back from Oasis. But I didn't think it was that bad.

"Where is everyone else?"

"Vault Hunters are out in Torgue territory..."

"Why?"

"I dunno, he was on about some Vault or something. Anyways, there is some arena fight, Torgue needs them to do stuff for him, Tina is out there for some weird reason, too. I don't know. Don't ask me. Whenever Mr. Torgue gets involved, things just get... a little strange." Lilith said, shaking her head slowly.

"Things are always weird, anyways, I don't see how this would be a problem." I replied. Usually Lilith was good with weird stuff.

"You ever talked to Torgue?" she asked. I shook my head no.

"Then don't judge me. Because he is kinda out there. Sometimes." she responded to my ignorance.

"Okay, but where is Brick? And Moxxi? I haven't seen Moxxi around in ages." I asked next. I was starting to think I might not have seen her, because I didn't end up picking up Mordecai from her bar anymore (or at least not much), but even then I hadn't seen her around. Not that I minded too much, it was just odd.

"Moxxi's mostly out in... ugh, I hate saying it... in the crater of badassitude." Lilith replied, shaking her head again.

"The what of what now?"

"The badass crater of badassitude." she repeated and visibly cringed at the name. I grinned at her smugly.

"What?"

"I'm not gonna say it again, you're just dragging this out to annoy me now!"

"Okay, okay, I got it. What is this badass crater, though? Don't think I've heard of it before." I said.

"It's where Torgue's arena is. Moxxi has a bar there as well and she's been hanging out there more often lately. People are actually swarming back to the ground, now that Jack is dead, so I guess that bar is more profitable at the moment than the one in Sanctuary. Also, Torgue has gotten into this whole vault hunting contest or something, so yeah, there's obviously a lot of people down there." Lilith explained.

"That sounds pretty wild. Okay, but where is Brick? Is he out there as well?" I wanted to know from her.

"He's doing some recon on the remaining Hyperion forces, but he's been out for a while, so I kinda doubt he's gonna come back soon. Last I heard was this morning and he was doing fine. Brick can manage on his own." Lilith said.

"Never doubted that. Well, I guess the party will have to wait then." I replied with a shrug. I was looking around the room. To be honest, we would need some furniture first. Sure, we had survived on bedrolls and bunk beds for now, but I really missed the comfort of having a proper bed.

"When do you think Mordy will be back with the supplies from that convoy?" Lilith asked. I shrugged. It was almost comical how much we shrugged in this one conversation, but that was mostly because we didn't really have much of a plan since Jack was dead. It was like we suddenly lost all purpose in life.

"Soon, I guess? Lemme send him an ECHO." I said and started talking into my ECHO device. I knew his frequency by heart at this stage.

"Hey, Mordy, when do you think you'll be back? Lil has a surprise for us and I think you'll like it."

 _"We're just at the Fast Travel station, so it won't be long. They had some really nice food, so that's something to look forward to."_ he answered promptly. Lilith quickly grabbed her ECHO to join in.

"Oh my God, please tell me you guys are bringing cocoa powder!"

 _"We are indeed, Lil. See you in a sec."_

"Thank GOD, I was running really low on that stuff." she said to me.

"So, where do you think we're gonna get a couch? And an actual bed? And you know, stuff?" I asked.

"There's loads of abandoned houses all over the planet. Just steal some stuff." Lilith replied with the most indifferent tone I had ever heard.

"Yeah, I guess. I can probably bring some stuff from Tundra Express. And there was this weird abandoned farmhouse, that might have some furniture in it. It's gonna be difficult to convince Mordecai to go and find furniture with me, though." I mused. Lilith looked at me for a few seconds and then started laughing hysterically.

"What's so funny?"

"I just imagined Mordecai shopping for furniture and it was hilarious."

"I've been getting furniture before!" we suddenly heard someone protesting behind us. I turned around and saw Mordecai standing there, Talon on his shoulder and a tired expression on his face.

"Hey, you're back. Everything good?" I asked him. He nodded and yawned.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Just tired. What's this place?" he wanted to know and looked around the apartment.

"Lilith found us our own place in Sanctuary, so we can move out of the bunk beds. Look at it. It's super new and it's clean and I love it. It just needs furniture." I told him. He nodded slowly and looked at Lilith.

"Thanks, Lil. It looks great. I'm just really tired. And I got an... uh... interesting message today." he said.

"What message?" I asked. I wasn't sure whether I should be excited or scared. Interesting could mean anything.

"Remember how I was disqualified after this one sharpshooting competition when I was 17? They banned me from taking part for a certain time. I got a message saying that the ban was lifted. There is a competition on for this galaxy in a couple of months and now would be the time to sign up for it." he replied.

"Are you gonna go?" Lilith asked. Mordecai shrugged.

"I don't know yet. Could be worth it. There's a nice sum for the winner. We could easily afford a new foot for Nova with that. There's something else, though." he said and held out an ECHO data pad to me.

"What's this?" I wanted to know. There were a bunch of names on a list and it looked like there was more than one list.

"You should check the female's rifle field shooting list. Might be a reason for you to sign up as well, Nova." he answered. I raised an eyebrow at him and skimmed through the list. There were a lot of people that were signed up for that and I had no idea what to look out for. Some of the names sounded vaguely familiar, I probably had met some of them on Aquator ages ago, but none of them rang a major bell, until...

"Anouk Orlova." I read out loud and put down the data pad.

"Are you saying I should sign up, because my daughter is going there? You do know I'm not even close to being good enough for that kinda thing. And if I remember correctly, there are qualifications and stuff you need to go through before you're even allowed to be on the official list. What planet do I sign up for? Fucking Pandora?"

"Well, yeah. Pandora would be the obvious choice. There is no way anyone could organize a qualification on here, so I suppose they'd let it slide and be fine with it. And you are good enough. With a bit of training. I mean, you don't have to sign up, but I was hoping if I decide to go, you'd come along anyways." he said to me.

"Where even is this?" I asked.

"Oh no. I know where this is going." Lilith chimed in, shaking her head.

"It's on Artemis." Mordecai answered with a shy smile.


	94. Chapter 93 or Plan of Action

_song: Royal Blood - Ten Tonne Skeleton_

I was sitting in HQ, around a big table, together with all the other Vault Hunters. Well, all of them except Brick, who was still gone for some reason. I had no clue why we were all here. Lilith had told us to come, so I figured she had some sort of plan she wanted us to know of. I just hoped it was a reasonable one.

Speaking of, I had no idea where Lilith actually was. Looked like she was running late and everyone else in the room was just waiting. It was quiet, except for some nervous sounds. Maya was going through a Maliwan catalogue, which made a fair amount of noise, Salvador was eating nachos, Gaige was clicking the fingers of her robotic arm together rhythmically. It was like some sort of slow torture.

I almost felt bad for slurping my cup of coffee slowly. Almost. Because I haven't had good coffee in ages and someone had just raided some Hyperion place and brought a whole lot of coffee to Sanctuary. I would have claimed all that for myself if I still had my little place in the Middle of Nowhere. But those times were over and right now I didn't have the nerve to start up something new. Especially not when there was the possibility that we'd go to other planets at any given time.

Next thing I heard was the door downstairs opening and someone walking upstairs quickly. I was wondering whether that might be Brick or Lilith, since those two were the only ones missing. I turned around looking at the top of the stairs expectantly until I saw a head with fiery red hair appearing just on top of the stairs.

"Sorry, I'm late, Moxxi kept me a little longer than expected." Lilith said as she came into the room. I raised an eyebrow at that. Whenever someone said Moxxi had been keeping them, it was fairly dubious.

"Moxxi, huh?" I asked, a grin on my face. Lilith rolled her eyes at me.

"Oh, shut up."

"So what's the occasion? Why are we all here?" Axton asked.

"I'm getting to that. I don't know how much you all know about this, but before Jack came into power, Roland and I... we helped him with something. We were on Elpis at the time and a Dahl general went and basically infiltrated Helios station. They used the eye of Helios, because they wanted to blow up the moon and even though Jack was somewhat of an asshole, he did have a plan and we figured it would be in everyone's interest to help him stop the rogue Dahl forces." Lilith started. The room had gotten eerily quiet and everyone was hooked on her story. I had already heard it. Sort of.

"Anyways, I'll get into more detail at another time. At the same time, Jack had hired some Vault Hunters to find a Vault on Elpis for him. And that's why we're here. While Roland, Moxxi and I worked against Jack after we learned he had a weapon of mass destruction on his space station that he intended to keep and use on Pandora, those six stuck with him." she continued. That part I hadn't heard yet.

"And you want us to find them?" Maya asked. Lilith nodded.

"Well. Some of them. We know for sure that two are dead already. And one is here in Sanctuary with us. There are three that are missing still." she replied.

"Who is in Sanctuary with us?" I asked. I couldn't think of anyone that wasn't in Sanctuary from the beginning. The thought that someone who could have been working with Jack was in Sanctuary was wild to me. Lilith sighed and looked down at the table in front of her. She had a defeated look on her face when she looked up at all of us again. I was still wrecking my brain who it could be.

"Claptrap." she said finally. The whole room was quiet for a split second and then we all burst out in laughter for some reason.

"Wait, Claptrap was a Vault Hunter?" I asked in disbelief. Because, you know, Claptrap was kind of an emotional mess half the time. Which, to be fair, kind of was an indicator of a Vault Hunter, seeing as we all were left more or less mentally unstable after we finally had managed to kill Jack.

"Jack wrote some sort of code that gave him some extra skills and made him a good addition to the team. Anyways, he's basically had to help Jack. Claptrap is Hyperion technology, so he had little choice. He'll get a pass." Lilith explained.

"Okay, who else was there? Who's dead? Who are we looking for? What do we know?" Mordecai asked. He had been super quiet all this time and I was convinced that he had been asleep the entire Crimson Raider meeting.

"The first one that's dead was Wilhelm. You guys finished him off, because Jack poisoned him before the fight. For the whole power core thing and... you know what happened. You were there." Lilith said.

"Okay, and who else?" Salvador wanted to know, as he grabbed a handful of nachos. I was ready to actually murder him. For some reason the noise of nachos being eaten really drove me insane.

"The other one that's already dead is Nisha. Jack's girlfriend. The Sheriff of Lynchwood." she answered.

"That one? Oh God, she was insane. No surprise she was into Jack. I wouldn't even be sure, who was more insane, Nisha or Jack." I exclaimed. I had almost forgotten about the whole Lynchwood episode. It seemed like such a long time ago, but I remember it was terrifying to see the deputy completely breaking down after we killed Nisha.

"Okay, so that's three down and leaves us with three more. Who are they?" Gaige asked. She seemed to be pretty excited at the prospect of hunting down some people. I wasn't so sure about it - they had been working for Jack and maybe still were. Plus, if they weren't, they were badass enough not to get killed.

"First one is Sir Hammerlock's sister. Her name is Aurelia, she's a sniper and a really good one at that. She's apparently been making his life miserable for ages and she's been travelling from planet to planet hunting exotic creatures until she ended up being hired by Jack. Insanely rich lady, but I have no good leads as to where she might be, so we'd be starting from scratch with her." Lilith summarised.

"I didn't even know that Sir Hammerlock had a sister. So we probably best start on Elpis if we want to find her, since we don't seem to have any better leads. What about the rest?" Axton replied.

"Another one is Jack's first doppelganger. His actual name is Timothy Lawrence, but he's legally not allowed to use that name for... I don't know how many years now. Last I knew was that he was still on Helios station, no clue what happened to him after that." Lilith said. Mordecai sat up in his chair.

"Timothy is clean." he answered. Everyone gave him a surprised look. We didn't even know of these Vault Hunters and Mordecai dropped a bomb like that on us, defending one of the guys working for Jack.

"How do you know?" Lilith asked, looking just as dumbfounded as the rest of us. Mordecai shrugged.

"The kid's innocent. I know him, I know where he is. I used to get a good few bits of intel from him. He's on Pandora, in hiding at the moment. Kid was just doing the job to pay off his student debt at the time, he never meant any of this to happen. He's fine. We're gonna leave him alone, Lil." he answered. Lilith squinted at him for a short while. She obviously didn't like that plan much.

"Are you sure? What if he gave you some of the wrong intel that led to all of us almost dying?" she said. Mordecai shook his head.

"He did, but only because he got the wrong information from someone else. It's not his fault. He had to go into hiding since that happened, because Hyperion then knew he was a spy. We're gonna leave him alone." he insisted. The silence that ensued was really tense. Lilith and Mordecai just looked at each other, while I shifted in my chair uncomfortably. I was prepared to jump in-between them if they started getting at each other's throats, to be honest. I had never seen them like this.

"Alright. For now. I guess." Lilith said finally, sounding a little annoyed. Mordecai just nodded. He had been calm this whole time and I seriously had no idea how. Sometimes I thought that if anyone could keep Lilith from going on an insane murder rampage, it would be him. I just hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"The last one is Athena. Former Atlas assassin, she is dangerous. She basically wiped out every last Atlas employee that she could find, because they made her kill her sister. I don't know much about what happened to her after that, but she seemed to be pretty close to that mechanic on Elpis. Her name was Janey Springs, so that might be a good place to start looking for her." Lilith concluded.

"So are we all going to take a trip to Elpis?" I asked. Lilith shook her head.

"No. Elpis used to be heavily under the influence of Dahl, so I figured Axton would be a good candidate. And out of everyone else, Gaige would probably be the best to go with him. So, if you guys could go to Elpis and try to find out as much as possible about Athena and Aurelia and where they are now... that would be good. We'll see if we can get information from the Hyperion forces left here on Pandora."


	95. Chapter 94 or Actual Plan of Action

_song: The Smashing Pumpkins - Solara_

"So, Lilith. What exactly is our plan? What are we doing?" I asked. It had been about a week since we had our little meeting and I hadn't seen any of the new Vault Hunters since then. I also hadn't seen Brick or Tina and it was kind of suspicious that they just wouldn't show up in such a long time.

"What do you mean? We're going to find Aurelia and Athena and we're going to execute them as war criminals." she replied. I raised my eyebrows. Lilith had this in charge facade going on and I wasn't buying it.

"Yeah, but how are we gonna do this? Where is everyone? Why do we have a plan, but haven't actually done anything?"

Lilith stayed quiet, but I could see Mordecai turning around on his chair out of the corner of my eye. He seemed pretty interested in what was going on, but not interested in getting involved at all. Which was probably for the best. Mordecai had been doing a great deal of work trying to get a memorial for Roland (and for Bloodwing) sorted, so he had helped Lilith through some really rough times.

"I mean... where have all the Vault Hunters gone? I haven't seen them in a good while and normally they only hang out in this place. It doesn't even smell like pizza in here anymore." I said.

"They're on some sort of hunting trip with Sir Hammerlock. Somewhere out in some swamp or whatever, I don't know." Lilith said, still staring at something on her console. I had no clue what she was doing. All I knew was that I was bored to death and that there were things to do and I wanted to do them.

"Why are they on a hunting trip? Isn't there... I dunno... stuff to do? Don't we have to get some information from people on Elpis?" I asked.

"Well, I don't know, but do you have a good idea on how to get to Elpis? Because I don't." she snapped. I was a little taken aback, but I figured I could have expected it. Things had gotten kinda tense lately.

"Okay, but are we doing anything to find a way to get there? I'm just sick of sitting around all day every day at this point and I think most of us are." I replied. Lilith turned around to me and shot me a deadly glare.

"Why don't you go and get your damn foot sorted, so? Don't tell me about how I'm not doing anything, when you're not going to solve your own problems!"

"Uh... I'm gonna go and... get something to eat. Yeah." Mordecai chimed in and slowly backed out of the room. I knew that was bullshit, because Mordecai basically never ate. He'd be the last person to leave a comfortable spot to get food. But I couldn't blame him for escaping the situation.

I mean, Lilith kind of had a point. And I realized how bitchy I must have sounded to her and I kinda regretted starting this conversation at all, but the damage was done, I suppose. I took a deep breath.

"Okay. Okay. Point taken. But seriously. All I've got right now is my daughter somewhere out there who has never seen me in her entire life and this sharpshooting thing, that might give me an opportunity to talk to her. And then, who's supposed to take off my foot for me? Zed? I mean, he's great when it comes to bullet wounds and healing hypos, but... I don't know, Lil." I said. Lilith sighed and sat down next to me.

"Yeah, I know, I know. I'm sorry. This whole leadership stuff is terrible. I mean, I've got so much pressure on me and I'm trying to make everyone happy, but... jeez, all the Vault Hunters have been working non stop and they've asked for some time off on this hunting trip. I couldn't have said no to them." she replied.

"Yeah, I guess. And we don't have a way to get up there for now anyways. You've had any ideas on that yet?" I asked again, hoping she had maybe already thought about it. Lilith just shrugged and shook her head.

"I mean, Hyperion has shuttles, as far as I know, and the new guy, Henderson, seems to be sane at least, but I doubt we'd be on speaking terms. I wouldn't trust them, seeing as we're still wiping them out." she said.

"You talked to Scooter about that? Maybe he can whip up something. Or Ellie. Or both of them. Gaige and I could help, we're both pretty good when it comes to mechanics." I suggested. Lilith seemed to consider that.

"I'm not sure... I mean, yeah, it sounds like a good idea, but I don't know if I'd trust a rocket that Scooter and Ellie built. Don't get me wrong, they're brilliant with cars and stuff, but that's a whole other level." she replied.

"Well, you wouldn't have to come to Elpis anyways. We kinda need you down here. Thought you wanted to send Axton and Gaige up there. Gaige will definitely trust stuff she builds herself. I can go and talk to Scooter, if you want."

"That... that would be pretty good, yeah. If you can figure something out, then we can send the two of them up to Elpis and they can get some information on Athena and Aurelia. And if the thing flies and not everyone dies, then you and Mordecai could use it to get to Artemis and you can finally get a new foot." she said. I nodded vigorously. We were finally getting somewhere. This was exciting!

"Yeah, maybe Tina can even help build something that can fly. I mean she has some pretty... uh... specialized knowledge." I suggested eagerly. Lilith's expression changed from one second to the other. She looked devastated all of a sudden and hid her face in her hands again. This was bad.

"Lil? Oh my God, Lil, what's wrong? Where is Tina?" I asked her. I got a little panicked myself. Why was she so upset when I mentioned Tina?

"She's been out with Brick." was all Lilith answered.

"Okay, but where the hell is Brick? I haven't seen him in ages. Don't tell me you've sent Tina on a mission with Brick..."

"I didn't! Well, in theory, I didn't. Brick was going to go out and try to capture some Hyperion workers. To see if they knew anything. Tina wanted to go with him, I said no, she went anyways, when I wasn't looking." Lilith summarized the situation quickly. I sighed. You couldn't really blame Tina, seeing as we were all basically raising her. I mean, this was the most Lilith thing to do.

"Okay, so where are they now?" I wanted to know. Maybe it wasn't as bad as I expected. It would probably be worse than expected with my luck, but one could always hope. Lilith's long silence wasn't very hope-inspiring, however.

"I don't know. They should have been back about a week ago. I have no idea what happened. I can't get a signal on them, nothing. Their last position was somewhere in Sawtooth Cauldron. That's all I know."

"Fuck."

"Yup."

We were quiet for a while. This whole thing was getting more and more difficult. I was surprised that Lilith didn't say anything to any of us sooner. I'm sure a lot of us would have volunteered to go out and look for them. But then again, Lilith tended to blame herself for everything lately. I hoped she would come around from that.

"Okay, suggestion: How about you and Mordy go out and look for them? Just around Sawtooth Cauldron, maybe you can find something. I'll go and talk to Scooter and I'll echo Gaige and maybe we can whip up an amazing plan for a spaceship by the time you come back, hopefully with Brick and Tina." I said. It would kinda suck to be without Mordecai, but I was sure I'd survive for a while. I didn't really think about how scared I'd be for him and I had no idea why this didn't occur to me until later.

"Who's gonna watch out for Sanctuary, then? Someone needs to be in charge here." Lilith protested.

"I can take over while you're gone. I'll stay in contact with you over the ECHOnet. There shouldn't be many problems, I mean, unless someone's gonna attack the city the second you guys leave. And I'd say, even with just the three of us here we'd have a hard time defending the city. When are they coming back from their hunting trip?"

"I think the plan is that they're back tomorrow evening or something. Who knows. Haven't heard much of them. But if you're gonna echo Gaige anyways, you can ask about it. I guess, we have no other choice than to chance it like that, huh?" Lilith asked. I shrugged and nodded. Chancing it was better than losing without trying.

"I guess so. We have a plan, then?" I asked. Lilith shrugged.

"Yeah. I suppose. You go down to Scooter's workshop and I'll tell Mordy he can come back. I just hope nothing bad happens between now and tomorrow evening." she said with a sigh. I smiled at her and nodded.

"We'll be fine, don't you worry." I told her, not as confident as I sounded.

"Alright. You know, you might wanna go to Elpis with Axton and Gaige."

"Why's that?"

"There's a nurse there. Name's Nina. She might be a better option than Zed and she's also Ivan Vladof's sister. Could help you with both your daughter and your foot." Lilith said. I nodded.

"I'll think about it on the way to Scooter's."


	96. Chapter 95 or Sheet Metal

_song: Bachman-Turner Overdrive - Takin' Care Of Business_

"Everything's calm here, how're things looking for you guys?" I echoed Lilith and Mordecai. They weren't even gone for a whole day yet and I already missed Mordecai. It was super weird to be in the new apartment on my own, especially since all we had managed to source so far was a mattress.

 _"Everything's pretty quiet. I think we found some sort of building with Hyperion guys hiding there. We don't really know how many there are, so we can't go in yet. Also seems a bit too quiet to have Tina and Brick in there. That is, if..."_ Lilith trailed off. None of us wanted to think of the possibility of them being... well, dead.

"Don't say it. They'll be fine. Don't you think they'd have boasted about it if they had killed them?" I said.

 _"Yeah, well... we'll see, I guess. We'll keep you updated if something happens."_

"Alright. Hey, Mordy. Miss you."

 _"Miss you, too, querida."_ Mordecai replied.

 _"Ew."_ Lilith commented and ended the connection for now. I smiled to myself and went back over to Scooter who was in a conference call with Gaige and Ellie, trying to figure out a proper modification to the plans of Sanctuary (the ship), that would transport Gaige, Axton and me to Elpis.

We didn't have much material to work with, so this whole thing had to be much smaller and much more uncomfortable than an actual mining ship. Sure, we could cut most of the mining stuff, but that meant modifying the engines and lots of other things. It was tedious work, but we were slowly getting somewhere.

"How's it going, guys?" I asked them.

"I think we gots it figured out. Almost. Rockets ain't really in the scope of what I can do, but I think we can work with this here blueprint. Gaige's got it all figured out." Scooter said, a big grin on his face.

"Really? That's amazing." I replied, suddenly feeling a little scared about the prospect of leaving Pandora for the first time in about 15 years. I had always talked about it, but after such a long time, leaving seemed almost impossible.

 _"Well, we kinda need to figure out the engine. We were hoping Tina could help us with that. Plus, we need the materials. We have maybe about 70% of all the metal and all the parts that we need here, so we kinda need to go and steal some from a few bandit camps."_ Gaige said. I nodded. That sounded pretty doable.

"Well, we're working on getting Tina back right now. She'll probably figure it out in no time. When you guys are back from your trip we'll go out and get that metal and work on that shuttle. Could it possibly take us further than the moon?" I asked.

 _"Nuh uh. There's no way in HELL."_ Ellie chimed in.

"We gotta figure something else out if we wanna move beyond Elpis so. Alright." I muttered to myself.

 _"Nova, there seems to be some commotion down in this building. The guards are running inside, so we'll keep watching. Not sure if this is a good sign or not."_ Lilith echoed quickly. I could hear a few shots from Mordecai's rifle in the background. I instantly started worrying. Nothing really happened, I just started worrying, completely out of nowhere. I could feel the panic creeping up inside of me again.

"Be careful, okay?" I said, my voice a little shaky. I hoped no one could hear that. Everyone around me seemed too busy to notice.

 _"Don't worry, chica. I never die."_ Mordecai said. I remembered the first time he told me that, when I tried to tell him he'd most likely die in the Underdome. A good 5 years ago. It was weird that it had been that long already.

"Alright. Good luck, guys." I replied and disconnected. I didn't want to distract them from what they were doing.

 _"Yo, girl, I hear you're coming to Elpis with Axton and me?"_ Gaige said, her voice sounding excited.

"Yup. I sure am. I'm supposed to go meet some Nina and find out, if she can amputate my foot and connect the nerve endings to a robotic one." I answered.

 _"Why can't Zed do it?"_ she asked.

"I wouldn't exactly trust Zed with something like that. He gets into those weird experiments and... I mean, did I tell you about that time I tried those mushroom thingies he gave me?" I replied, shuddering at the thought.

 _"Girl, I was there. It was wild. You started hallucinating the weirdest stuff, we were lucky we took all your guns off you, but you still managed to stab a wall. A whole stone wall. It was mad stuff, we should do it again."_

"No. No, we shouldn't. I was throwing up for like a whole day after. Should've tested those things on a skag first."

 _"Yeah. Okay, fair enough, but I can do it, too. I mean, I managed to do it with my own arm and it works fantastically."_ Gaige suggested.

"Yeah, actually. I mean, I feel like I could actually trust you with connecting my nerve endings to the new thing and all, but I'd rather have someone who has actual medical experience do the amputating part, you know?"

 _"I'm hearing you, girl. Well, the offer stands, but I'll definitely help, if I can."_

"Thanks, Gaige, I appreciate it."

 _"Always up for a good amputation!"_ Gaige exclaimed cheerfully. I sighed. Why was everyone just so damn optimistic all the time?

"Cool. Now that that's outta the way, how abouts we focus on the task at hand?" Scooter chimed in. I nodded.

"Agreed. What parts do we need, Scooter?" I asked.

"Lotsa strong sheet metal." he replied.

 _"We need a generator."_ Ellie added.

 _"We're gonna need some hydraulic parts, too, for a proper cooling system. We don't exactly wanna burn up in the atmosphere."_ Gaige said.

"No, that wouldn't be ideal. Will we need any relays, any fuses? Or do we have that stuff? Can you put everything we're gonna need on a list and send it out to everyone over the ECHO? Then we can all look for stuff and find it pretty quickly." I said. I was already starting to forget all the stuff we needed.

 _"Sure thang, I'm on it!"_ Ellie told us enthusiastically.

 _"Awesome. Don't forget that we'll need fuel."_ Gaige added.

"Good call, Gaige. I feel like we're suddenly getting somewhere so fast, it's pretty insane. I mean after all that waiting. When can we start building, you think?" I asked. On the one hand I was reluctant to leave Pandora, because it seemed scary, on the other hand I wanted to go as soon as possible, because if we waited any longer, I might change my mind on everything. If we did it fast, I could regret it afterwards, but at least I was already on the way then. And good things usually came from that.

"Well, we can probably start today with the material we have. Should be able to get started on the hull and some of them compartments. Maybe some o' them controls as well, they'll take like foreeeeeeever. But you're good with 'em, so you'll get it done in no time. Ellie can come over and help, I can really only help out with the actual handywork." Scooter replied. I gave him a smile.

"Good. Let's do it then." I said.

 _"I'll be scratching together all the parts and sheet metal I can find from my garage an' be right over!"_ Ellie commented and disconnected.

 _"I can see if we'll find something out here or on the way back that we can use. This is gonna be AWESOME."_ Gaige said and disconnected as well.

"Okay, time to go and pile up every shiny little piece of metal in this place!" Scooter exclaimed in a cheerful voice. They all seemed to be looking forward to this, while I only hoped we would manage not to die.

Scooter started running over to one corner of the workshop and went through his shelves, gathering up parts in his arms. I watched, completely fascinated, how he gathered all the pieces and ran into the middle of the garage to pile them up. He looked like this was his childhood dream come true.

"Aw, man, don't just stand there. Come on, search from the other end, the sooner we got all the stuff, the sooner we can start!" he said and grinned at me. I laughed shaking my head and went to the opposite end of the room.

There was a whole lot of pipes on that shelf and somewhere towards the back of the room, there was a whole lot of sheet metal that Scooter must have stored while Hyperion was waging a war on us. I was pretty sure he couldn't just easily digistruct material back then. Actually, I wasn't even sure if it was possible to get stuff from other places just yet. Pandora was mostly treated like a stepchild, so I wouldn't be surprised.

 _"We've got them. They're alive."_ I heard Lilith's voice coming from my ECHO suddenly. I was a little taken aback by the sudden message.

"What?" I answered, sounding pretty surprised.

 _"Brick and Tina are alive and well. They broke out themselves. We've got them and are coming back soon."_


	97. Chapter 96 or A Classic Roland

_song: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Snow (Hey Oh)_

The moment of silence Lilith had called at the end of the funeral seemed to be extremely long and extremely short at the same time. It was all in all a pretty bittersweet ceremony, but I was still bawling out my eyes around half-way through it. After the moment of silence most of the citizens of Sanctuary and most of the raiders disbanded and made their way back to the city. The rest of us lingered.

A lot of people had made it out here, I was somewhat surprised by that. But then again, Roland was pretty popular in Sanctuary. He did a lot of good things and helped a lot of people. He was probably too good for Pandora.

Lilith was sitting on the ground leaning her back against Roland's memorial and looked into the sunset. She looked almost at peace, if it hadn't been for her shaking from small, but persistent sobs. I was debating going over to her and talking to her, but I figured I should give her some time for now.

Mordecai and Brick were helping Tina to get up onto the memorial, so she could hug Roland one last time. Tina seemed to be dealing with it pretty well on the surface, but Mordecai had told me she wasn't doing very well at all. Brick seemed to have taken on Roland's role as some sort of father figure and he did a surprisingly good job with it. Maybe taking care of kids was just his thing.

Moxxi, Marcus and Zed started slowly leaving as well. Claptrap was mumbling and crying about how much he loved all of us, which was kinda sweet, but could easily get on people's nerves. The new Vault Hunters were standing in a loose group and were talking among each other, probably some reminiscing.

I went over to Mordecai and Brick who were watching out for Tina, who was climbing on the memorial. Mordy looked way more worried than Brick (I was grateful at least one of them looked worried, to be honest).

"Hey, how are you holding up? How's Tina doing?" I asked them.

"Holding up okay, I suppose. Tina's taking it all pretty rough, but she's a tough one. She'll pull through." Mordecai answered. His voice was more quiet than usual. He seemed pretty distraught during the whole funeral, because it obviously wasn't only Roland's funeral, but also Angel's and Bloodwing's funeral.

"Brick seems to be getting along with her really well." I remarked. Mordecai nodded and smiled a small, weak smile.

"Yeah, I think she calls him her dad or something. Which would probably make me her mom or whatever. At this stage it's easiest to just go along with it, I guess." he said with a shrug. I laughed a little.

"Yeah, she seems to be quite stubborn." I agreed. We stood together in silence for a while and looked at the two memorials. The red evening sun was shining on them, making them fit perfectly into the desert landscape.

"You doing alright?" Mordecai asked after a while.

"I think so. I don't know. You know how easily I get emotional. But I think I'm too dehydrated right now to be able to cry anymore. It was some exhausting few months, huh?" I replied. Mordecai nodded.

"It was, indeed. You wanna come with me and check on Lil?" he replied. I nodded. Lilith didn't look like she was crying anymore, more like she was exhausted from everything and finally able to relax.

We went over to where Lilith was leaning against Roland's memorial. She had her eyes closed against the setting sun and probably didn't really notice us approaching. Or maybe she did, it was hard to tell, really. I almost felt bad about disturbing her, because she just looked so peaceful at that moment.

"Hey, Lil. Mind if we sit with you for a moment?" Mordecai asked her, as we walked up to her. She opened one eye and gave us a weak smile and then nodded, as she sat up a little. We sat down on either side of her and just looked out into the sunset over the Pandoran wasteland for a while.

"You alright, Lil?" Mordecai said finally.

"I don't really know. I guess, I am. More or less. At the moment I'm just exhausted. But also relieved. This whole funeral was on my mind for ages now and it's finally over and I feel like I might have gotten a little bit of closure, at least." she replied. I looked around. Most people had left at this stage.

"You deserve a holiday most out of everyone else, Lil. Seriously. You need to take a break soon." I said. She smiled at me.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same. You know, when you guys are going up to Elpis, I think Tina wanted to play some Bunkers & Badasses. I'm actually really looking forward to that, I haven't played in ages." she replied.

"I don't think I ever played it. I was always kinda curious, but I never really hung out with the kids who did play." I told her.

"Wasn't it always the nerdy kids that played that game?" Mordecai commented. Lilith grimaced a little.

"I guess. I played the game and I was pretty nerdy. But you're gonna play it with us, when Nova, Gaige and Axton are on Elpis." Lilith said.

"Do I have to?" Mordecai asked.

"Oh, come on. Do it for me? And Tina?" she replied. Mordecai shook his head and sighed in defeat.

"Fine. I'll do it. But only this one time."

"It's never just this one time, but sure, Mordy. Whatever you say." Lilith said, laughing a little. She wiped some tears from her face.

"This was a pretty rough day." she added then and looked into the sunset again. I quickly looked over at Brick and Tina. Brick seemed to be busy trying to help Tina get down from the memorial without killing herself.

"It was pretty rough." Mordecai agreed.

"See, the whole day I just kept remembering all those little details about Roland. You know, even though our whole relationship was pretty rocky at times, there were so many good times we had and all that just kept coming back to me. It just made the whole thing so much more difficult. Even the sunset now. When we started going out, we used to come to this exact spot and watch the sunset together. This place just brings back so many memories." Lilith said. Her expression seemed distant.

"Yeah, I told Roland to take you out to this place. He was really insanely oblivious that you were into him." Mordecai replied. Lilith looked over at him with a surprised expression on her face. I grinned, knowing full well that she had no idea that Mordecai had egged Roland on to ask her out.

"What? Mordy, you're King Grump, how did you pick out this location? Are you secretly a hopeless romantic or something?" she asked.

"Yup, he is." I chimed in. Lilith laughed.

"I didn't know that you gave Roland hints about me being into him, but I had my suspicions. Thinking back, he would have never ever figured it out on his own. His obliviousness was on a whole different level." she said with a genuine laugh.

"He totally was. You could have stripped right in front of him and he wouldn't have thought anything of it." Mordecai agreed.

"I know." Lilith replied. I quickly turned my head over to her and blinked at her. Was she saying that she...

"What do you mean, you know? Lilith, did you actually...?" I asked her. She gave me a mischievous grin and nodded. I gasped dramatically and Mordecai looked as if he regretted every word he ever said.

"Oh my God, Lilith, that is the wildest thing I've heard! Why did you never tell me about this?" I asked.

"Well, it wasn't exactly very successful and saying I stripped in front of him might be worded a bit more suggestively than it actually was..."

"I wanna hear the whole story!" I exclaimed.

"I don't!" Mordecai protested.

"Guys, we were literally at a somewhat cleanish lake and I wanted to take a bath and Roland happened to be around. I didn't really care whether he'd see me without my clothes or not, so I didn't make a big deal of it and just... you know... took off my clothes and got clean. While he was there. Nothing special, really." she explained.

"And he still didn't think anything of it?" I asked in disbelief. I mean, how could you be that clueless?

"Well, I don't know, but he just kind of rolled with it? Like he didn't even realize at first and then was like 'Oh, do you want me to turn around or something?' and I just said I didn't care and that was that." she replied. Mordecai was just shaking his head laughing.

"That's a classic Roland for you!"


	98. Chapter 97 or Sneaking Out

_song: Chronixx - Skankin' Sweet_

It was really strange to see Pandora from Elpis. I had been going through all sorts of emotions before the trip and on the whole way here and right now, all I wanted was to go back home. But I couldn't do that just yet. We had a mission here and we couldn't really go back home until we had a good lead on Athena and Aurelia.

My emotional rollercoaster had started off with not wanting to leave Pandora, not even for a little while. It was weird, because a few months ago, there was nothing I would have loved more than leaving the planet. When it actually became serious, I suddenly got scared and wanted to hide from everyone. Then I was panicking, because what if I died a terrible death? Then I got sad, because I would miss Mordecai. Then I was nervous, because this was a whole new place that I didn't know and even though I was going there with people I knew, I felt really lonely just thinking about it.

It was kind of like leaving Aquator all over again. Back then I was insanely scared when I had actually packed my bags and bought the ticket to Pandora, but I couldn't really go back at that stage. I could, but that would have been really sad and I was too proud to do it. I remember crying for ages in my small room in the shuttle, because everything was so uncertain and I suddenly got scared.

Seeing Pandora from inside the tiny spacecraft was probably the strangest feeling ever. It made me sad and proud and happy and melancholic, all at the same time. And it made me think about how maybe humans were never made to actually travel between planets. It just seemed so unnatural, but we were still doing it all the time and for what? Mostly for profit. Fame. Fortune. It was wild, thinking about it.

And now I was lying awake in the middle of the night in a dorm in the worn down hostel we got a room in. I was kind of debating going out again. There was one of Moxxi's bars here in Concordia, the capital of Elpis (and pretty much the only place worth visiting, unless you were into icy and possibly dangerous landscapes). I was debating heading there and having a drink or two.

I would barely be able to sleep in a room by myself, but the dorm was making it even more difficult. A while ago, someone tried to get into the wrong room. Dude was completely shitfaced. He made a huge commotion and was eventually kicked out. There was another guy in this room who kept on talking in his sleep and someone else who was snoring really loudly. Plus, I missed Mordecai.

I was wondering if he was maybe still up, not being able to sleep, like me. He was having trouble sleeping since he had stopped drinking. It was driving me mad at the beginning, because he'd just wander our apartment for ages, which was waking me up several times throughout the night. But I had gotten used to it and now I missed nothing more than Mordecai quietly wandering around the apartment.

I took a look at my ECHO device. It had only just gotten dark and it was pretty early in the night. I sighed with frustration and tossed my duvet aside. I couldn't sleep, so I would go out for a drink. With Mordecai not drinking, I didn't touch the stuff whenever he was around, but right now he wasn't.

I sat up in my bed and pulled a pair of pants and a big woollen sweater out of my bag. I quickly pulled the sweater over my head and put on the cargo pants and I was on my way out of the room. I looked at my ECHO device again. Would I send Mordecai a message or not? He probably was up anyways...

"Hey Mordy, you up?"

 _"Yup."_ I promptly got a reply from him. So he was up and couldn't sleep. If he had been asleep a simple ECHO message wouldn't have woken him up.

"I just missed you. Can't sleep." I said, as I walked around the corner quickly.

 _"I miss you, too, chica. I've been awake for ages now, was wondering whether I should echo you, but I thought you might be asleep."_ he replied. I smiled when I heard him say that. Mordecai could be so sweet, if he wanted to. I think a lot of that was also Brick's influence. The two of them had been hanging out a lot, since Brick came back to Sanctuary. Their friendship was just precious.

"Anything interesting happening on Pandora?" I asked.

 _"No, not really. There's been a few more cargo ships with supplies lately, so I've been thinking, if you're up for going to Artemis, we can maybe hitch a ride with one of them. The whole thing should really only take us a month or two max."_ he replied.

"Hm... I'll see, okay? Let me survive Elpis first, it was really the weirdest feeling, leaving Pandora after everything."

 _"I know. And even after you wanted to leave Pandora for so long. It's always weird leaving a place you're used to. What's Elpis like?"_

"I'm not sure how to describe it. It's pretty cold. Like, colder than Tundra Express. You need oxygen kits to survive outside of Concordia. And it kinda sucks when they run out of oxygen and you have to hold your breath until you can refill them again. Concordia is... a bit of a dump, I guess? There's some cool stuff here, but it's really just a lot like Sanctuary. Only on the moon. I'm just escaping the hostel, because some dude is talking in his sleep and it's annoying me." I told him.

Mordecai was laughing on the other end. Of course he'd find it funny. I probably would, too, if I wasn't so tired and had to limp around the streets of Concordia. They had an uneasy feel to them, especially after I met the dude that was talking to himself about the voices and stabbing people.

 _"Hey, you go for a walk and try to get some sleep, okay, chica? I gotta get up early tomorrow, we're getting that Hyperion guy that captured Brick and Tina and we'll interrogate him. I think Tina wanted to play her silly game, too."_ Mordecai said.

"Bunkers & Badasses is not silly!" I protested and laughed. I was 98% sure, Mordecai would love the game once he got into it.

 _"Yeah, I don't know about that. Anyways, I'll leave you to your walk. Goodnight! Love you."_

"Night, Mordy. Love you, too."

I sighed and turned around another corner in the hostel, just to immediately bump into someone on the way. I cursed a little under my breath and looked up, straight into Gaige's face. She seemed surprised to see me, kinda like she was hiding something. Was she sneaking out of her room?

"Uh... hey. What are you doing here? Thought you were asleep?" she said and giggled nervously.

"Couldn't sleep. What are you doing here?" I replied.

"Oh, just... uh... just going for a walk."

"Gaige, are you sneaking out?" I asked. I mean, the girl was 18. She could do whatever the hell she wanted, really. Still, I knew I'd be worried if she was sneaking out alone. Why would she even sneak out? There was literally nothing to do here that she couldn't be doing on Pandora as well.

"I... uh..." she stammered.

"Jeez, Gaige, I'm not gonna tell you to go back to bed. You were on your way to Moxxi's bar, weren't you?"

"Maybe."

"Come on, so was I. Let's get some drinks together. Unless you don't wanna be seen with me or something." I said. She looked at me and her nervous smile turned into a genuine grin. She nodded.

"Alright, let's get some drinks then. I totally wouldn't have gone out drinking on my own, but if you invite me to tag along..."

"Of course you wouldn't go and get drunk on your own, Gaige. Noted." I replied, rolling my eyes a little.

"Exactly. Exactly." Gaige answered and nodded. She knew that I was calling her bluff, but she was still trying to play it cool, which made me burst out laughing, just as we were leaving the hostel.

"You're a really bad liar, Gaige." I told her. She blushed a little and shrugged. It was pretty funny to me how being a teenager still seemed to be the same thing, no matter at what time. I could remember when I first started sneaking out at night. I think I was around 12 or 13 years old and definitely hanging out with the wrong crowd.

"Well, I never really had to lie much. I mean, I could basically tell my dad anything and everything." she replied.

"Well, aren't you lucky?" I mumbled.

"Why? You don't get along with your parents?" she asked. I wasn't really sure what to tell her. I mean, I didn't get along with them at all, when I left for Pandora, but now? Maybe I'd get along with them a little better now. I mean, a lot of things have happened. A lot of things have changed. I didn't know.

"Let's just say, my father was very controlling and controlling parents usually raise good liars." I told her.


	99. Chapter 98 or Nina Mend You Good

_song: GRiZ - Wicked_

Turned out the next morning, that sneaking out for a few drinks wasn't the best idea Gaige and I had ever had. We woke up early the next morning, huddled up in the same tiny bed and with the worst headache in our lives. Well, we didn't even wake up, we were woken up by Axton who seemed to get a great kick out of our suffering.

So we had gotten up, gotten dressed, had some leftover pizza for breakfast (because we were gross human beings and hungover as hell) and were now standing in front of some bigass shop thing that was called Springs Emporium O' Stuff. The windows were boarded up and there was a guy living in there that looked like he had been paranoid since the day he was born. I could barely focus on the conversation, so I checked my ECHO device secretly, while still pretending to listen.

I saw that there was a message from Lilith. Maybe... maybe I would get away with listening to it, while they were still talking. That guy wasn't making much sense anyways, so what was the harm, right?

 _"Bad news, girl."_ was all that Lilith had said. What the hell? Why would she send me a message like that without elaborating on what the bad news were? Or at least what they were about? She knew how much I worried.

"You okay? You look worried?" Gaige whispered to me. Axton gave her a somewhat annoyed look, but didn't say anything. He was still talking to that dude.

"Yeah, just... I think I need a minute." I whispered back and quietly walked around the corner. I sat down on the ground, leaning against a building.

"What's the bad news, Lilith? Please answer ASAP, I'm actually starting to panic right now and-" I started, but was cut off.

 _"Mordy has been drinking again."_

I quietly cursed under my breath. I knew it was bound to happen at some stage, but it still surprised me. He had been doing so well with staying away from it until now, I had started to think he might not relapse.

"Fuck. That's bad. How bad is it exactly?" I asked.

 _"Well, we found him in Moxxi's bar. He can't hold his drink as well anymore, so it didn't really take too much to knock him out. We moved him to HQ. He's still sleeping, but he'll have one hell of a morning. Gonna keep him here until you get back. You want us to try and keep him away from the stuff?"_ Lilith asked.

"Uhm... only if he asks you to. It won't do any good, if you force him to quit, he'll just start drinking in secret and give himself alcohol poisoning when no one's around to help. Look, we're just asking people about Janey Springs and Athena, we'll be getting onto Aurelia as soon as we can and then I'll come back down to Pandora immediately." I told her. I felt really bad for taking off to Elpis now.

 _"Alright. What are we supposed to do with him until you're back?"_ she replied. She sounded pretty insecure, and to be fair, it had been a while since she had to take care of a drunk Mordecai.

"Watch out that he doesn't drink himself into a coma, especially now that his tolerance has gone down quickly. And just... if he gets sick, check up on him, so he doesn't choke and die, okay? Give him lots of water and stuff, too. Soda, if he feels like it. And make him eat something, at least try to make him eat something. Keep me updated on how he's doing, so I don't have to worry too much." I told her.

 _"You're gonna worry anyways. But thanks. We'll do our best. You think he's gonna manage to quit again?"_

"I don't know. I hope so. He's still got Talon as an incentive to stop again and I think he'll pull through. He loves that bird so much, he'll probably manage to get sober again." I said. I hoped that was true.

 _"Yeah, I suppose. You guys find out about Athena and Aurelia and then come back. We can sort this out, okay?"_ Lilith replied.

"Definitely. Talk to you later." I said and ended the connection. I got up from the ground and walked back around the corner, where Axton and Gaige were already waiting for me, looking a little disappointed.

"Sorry, that was Lilith. Mordy started drinking again, so I gave her a quick rundown on what to look out for. Anyways. Did you find out anything?" I asked them. I didn't really want to talk about it much at the moment.

"Nothing really. Janey Springs sold that shop to this guy, but he seems a little... off. Anyways, she's not in Concordia anymore, he suggested we ask someone called Nurse Nina about it. She's apparently just over there, sooo... you wanna go?" Axton wanted to know. I nodded, feeling my head hurt with every little movement. Too bad I was off the painkillers and healing hypos.

"Yeah, I think I needed to talk to her anyways. About my foot." I said and started walking towards the place Axton had pointed to. I just wanted to get this whole day over with, so I could chug some water and go back to bed.

With how small and close together everything in Concordia was, we could literally just cut across the city diagonally and get to Nurse Nina's place. Looking at it from the outside, it had a certain charm, definitely better than Zed's place, but I still wasn't so sure about it. There were so many crazy people around, I didn't trust the peace.

With a sigh I went inside the place and looked around carefully. There was some sort of illuminated pad in one corner, a vending machine in another corner. A somewhat bulky woman was standing around the place. It looked like she was cleaning something, which was a good sign in itself.

"He good at looking after himself, but Nina still worry..." I heard her mumble to herself, as she turned around. She had a slightly surprised look on her face for a second and then smiled at the three of us.

"Oh, hello! Nina not see you there. I Nurse Nina. When you need medicine, you come see. Only if serious, though. Nurse Nina hate big babies. Unless they REAL babies - Nurse Nina LOVE them!" she said to us with a deep laugh. She was talking in a thick accent, but she sounded pretty friendly to me.

"Uh, thanks. We're looking for some people and thought you might be able to tell us something about them." Axton said. Nina shot him a dirty look.

"You Dahl soldier?" she asked. I shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other, forgetting that my other foot wasn't in great condition. I flinched a little and quickly shifted my weight back onto the other leg. Nina had seemed to notice.

"Ex-Dahl. They tried to execute me. We're looking for someone named Athena, used to be Atlas military, and is apparently with someone called Janey Springs. And we're looking for Aurelia, rich girl. Last we heard of them they were both here, on Elpis." Axton said. Nina gave him a friendlier look now and nodded.

"Ah, yes. Nina know both of them. Athena is nice girl. Friendly. Why look for them?" she wanted to know.

"We just need to ask them some questions. We're not planning to harm them." Axton said. Nina didn't seem to buy it, but she nodded anyways.

"Athena and Janey gone. To Pandora. Hiding in some cave town. Forgot name of it, though. Aurelia, I don't know. Not on Elpis anymore. She good at shooting and is season for competitions. Might find her there. But Nina not know." was all she said. Axton nodded. He seemed happy with that information.

"Thanks a lot, Nina, that's pretty helpful. We'll be gone, then." he said. I opened my mouth to protest, because I had been meaning to talk to her about my foot, but I didn't even need to say anything.

"You there with wild hair. You limp. Let Nina have look at you." she said, nodding at me. I gave Gaige and Axton a questioning look and they just shrugged.

"Yes, is you I mean. Come here and lie down on cot. Let Nina look at leg." she repeated. I groggily walked over to the cot and lay down on it. She looked at me and started laughing, then she went over to her table and took a small pill and a cup of water and brought it over to me. I took it from her, but wasn't sure what she wanted me to do.

"Take. Will help with hangover, lapushka. Shouldn't have gone to bar so late." she said with another amused laugh. I gave her a small smile as I heard a lot of laughter from Gaige and Axton behind me.

"Thanks." I mumbled and quickly took the painkiller she gave me and then proceeded to take off my boot and roll up my cargo pants to my knee, so she could have a look at the injury. It looked really bad, if I was being honest.

"Is no good." Nina mumbled shaking her head.

"Yeah, we're already trying to source a robotic foot to replace that one. We were wondering if you could help with amputating my old foot and connecting the new one..." I said. She was shaking her head.

"No. Nina no amputate foot. Nina amputate leg from knee down."

"What?"

"No good otherwise. If amputate from knee down, Nina help." she said. Great. Just great.


	100. Chapter 99 or A Bad Day

_song: Sam Tinnesz - Wolves_

"I can't believe I have to get the whole leg amputated!" I exclaimed. It was pretty frustrating and I felt a little better after the painkiller, but was still tired.

"It's not the whole leg, just from the knee down." Gaige replied. She seemed to be pretty excited about my leg.

"Still! I mean, we'll definitely not be able to scratch together enough material up here for a whole leg. We might have managed to find enough for a foot, but not a leg. It just kinda sucks, okay?" I said.

"You're in a pretty bad mood, huh?" Axton chimed in. Big mistake. I was indeed in a foul mood, not just because of the leg, but also because I was worrying about Mordecai and Lilith who had to take care of him now, while I was gone and because I was tired and hungover and things just weren't going well today.

"You wanna donate your leg, that it?" I growled and shot him a death glare. Gaige and Axton looked at each other.

"Sheesh, girl, you need to chill out." Axton said, while Gaige was gesturing to him to stop talking immediately. I was just about to get really angry and blow up in his face when I heard a beep on my ECHO device.

"Gimme a second, I'll be right back." I mumbled and turned a corner, so I could talk in peace. It was a message from Lilith.

 _"Hey, how are you doing?"_ she asked.

"Not great, how are you? How's Mordecai?"

 _"He's awake, he's okay. He took a painkiller and we made him eat some pizza. We're just having a small break in our Bunkers & Badasses game and it's pretty good. What's up on Elpis? You sound pretty pissed."_

"I dunno, I think I'm kinda stressed out and Axton is being kind of a dick. Well, he's not really, but you know what I mean." I said.

 _"Sounds awful. What happened?"_

"Well, Gaige and I snuck out of the hostel last night and got pretty shitfaced, so the morning wasn't great. We all went to some place Janey Springs apparently owned a few years ago, some dude was living there, said he had no idea where she went. So we went to Nurse Nina next and she told us some stuff. Anyways, she had a look at my leg and says she'll have to take the whole leg off." I explained.

 _"The whole leg? What?"_

"Well, not really the whole leg, but more than just the foot. She says, she'll have to amputate everything below the knee, which means I'll lose more of MY OWN DAMN BODY and also, I won't be able to source enough material from Elpis. And that on top of being hungover and tired and on my own and Mordy drinking again and... it just hasn't really been a good day. And I'm probably being too whiny and all, but I just can't right now." I told her. I mean, I had no reason to be such a bitch to Axton and Gaige, but I was just so tired and I couldn't stand being around people right now.

 _"Aw, man, that sounds really rough. You got anything on Athena or Aurelia, though?"_ Lilith asked.

"Well, Athena and Janey Springs are apparently on Pandora. Nina was saying something about some small town in a cave? You got any idea where that could be?" I told her. I had been going over all the places on Pandora I knew earlier on and I couldn't really think of anything that fit that description.

 _"No clue, but Mordecai would probably know. He knows the weirdest fucking places on this planet."_ Lilith answered.

"What are you gonna do once you find Athena? Like, are you actually gonna execute her, like on sight?" I wanted to know. I was a little concerned, because Nina had specifically mentioned that Athena was a nice girl and seemed to know why we were looking for her. And when Lilith mentioned executing them as war criminals, I figured she'd give them a fair trial or something, but for some reason I wasn't so sure anymore.

 _"I don't know, why are you asking?"_

"Nina seemed concerned about us doing anything more than talking to Athena. She said Athena was a nice girl. We kinda told her we'd only be talking to her." I said. It was pretty quiet on the other end for a while.

 _"Yeah, we'll give her a chance to defend herself."_ Lilith finally answered. That was a bit of a relief.

"Good. Thanks. And yeah, about Aurelia. She said she doesn't know much about her, but she figures, she might have signed up to one of the shooting competitions. You know, since it's apparently the season for it and stuff." I said.

 _"Hm. You know what? I don't think you should talk to any more people today. How about you find a nice quiet spot in Concordia and I'll tell Mordy to get you a list of all the people who have signed up for anything he can think of off the top of his hat. He'll send them to you and you can check them for her name, while Gaige and Axton talk to people. You go and get some rest, okay?"_

"You're talking to me like I'm a cripple or something!" I protested, but I was secretly glad I could get some alone time.

 _"Yeah, because I love you. Talk to you later, I think Mordy wants to have a few minutes with you."_ she said. I could hear some weird noise in the background while she probably gave Mordecai her ECHO device.

 _"Hey, chica, you alright up there?"_ he asked. I smiled a little at hearing his voice, but it also kinda made me sad.

"Hey, Mordy. I'm doing alright, I guess. Just a rough day. How are you?" I wanted to know. I didn't really know what answer I expected.

 _"Lilith told you, didn't she?"_

"She did."

 _"Fuck. Look, I... I'm sorry, okay? I don't even know how it happened, I just... I don't know. I'm sorry."_

"It's okay, Mordy. We both knew it could happen and it did. Are you gonna try again? Soon?" I asked.

 _"Of course. I'll stop tomorrow. Once we're done with the game, I'll throw out everything that's left. Promise."_ he said. And he sounded absolutely honest and sincere and I really wanted to try my best to believe him. Maybe he did actually mean it, maybe he didn't. Who knew? Last time he had meant it and he was doing alright for a good while. Hopefully, it would be different from tomorrow on.

"Alright. Hey, be careful, okay? We might even already be back by tomorrow or the day after that. Don't do anything stupid, like... I don't know, dying or something." I told him. I could hear him laugh.

 _"I'll do my best, chica. I'm sorry. I'll send you that stuff Lilith talked about and you can have a look through the names, okay? Maybe if you find Aurelia, you can come back soon."_ he said. I saw a notification pop up. It was the lists that Mordecai was supposed to send me. He had already found some!

"Alright. I hope I'll see you soon. Talk to you later, Mordy. Love you." I replied. I could see Gaige and Axton looking around the corner, waiting for me.

 _"Love you, too."_

I sighed and then looked up to Gaige and Axton. They were looking at me curiously and I felt kinda bad for snapping at them earlier. I mean, I was being a bitch for no real reason (or rather an accumulation of reasons).

"You're gonna stay here and look through the lists?" Gaige asked me.

"Lilith already echoed you?" I asked, somewhat surprised how quick everyone down there was. They really wanted to get back to that game.

"Yup, she did. We'll start out by talking to people in the bar. Let us know if you find anything." Gaige replied. I nodded.

"Cool. Thanks. And sorry I was being kinda bitchy earlier." I told them. Gaige shrugged and smiled at me.

"Happens to the best of us." was all she said. With that she and Axton turned around and made their way to the bar. I sat back down on the ground. I kinda liked that spot. It was quiet, but not too much away from everything else.

I took out my datapad and started looking through all the stuff on it, so I could find the sign up lists for the shooting competitions. I figured I'd probably best start with the ones I already kinda knew, from seeing my daughter's name on them. I wondered if I could maybe see another few familiar names on it.

I skimmed over the lists, and automatically got stuck for a little while each time I saw Anouk's name. She had been signing up for a good few categories and it kind of made me a little proud inside. I figured when I was back down on Pandora, I should give reading the Hyperion files on her another try. And then I saw it and was violently torn out of my thoughts. I quickly grabbed my ECHO and sent a message to Gaige.

"She's there. She's signed up for one. _Aurelia Hammerlock is going to be on Artemis!_ "


	101. Chapter 100 or Back Home

_song: Fairport Convention - Book Song_

"Thank God, you're back. I love both Tina and Mordecai to bits, but damn, it can be a pain taking care of them BOTH." Lilith said, as she hugged me.

"Meh, you get used to it." I replied and laughed. I was pretty glad to be back. Elpis wasn't my favourite place and I don't think I could have liked it if I tried. Brick came up to me next and gave me one of his bear hugs.

"Mordy's not doing great, but he hasn't touched a drop of alcohol since yesterday. Think he's binging on some show at the moment." he told me. I nodded.

"Thanks for taking care of him while I was gone, Brick. Is he upstairs?" I asked. Brick nodded. I gave him a smile, took my backpack and went upstairs.

"I'll be back in a while, Gaige and Axton can fill you in on everything!" I shouted while I stomped upstairs. It didn't take me long to find Mordecai upstairs. He looked absolutely miserable. He was lying in bed, a huge bottle of water next to him, some toast on a plate that was standing on the floor.

"Mordecai!" I said, as if I was somehow surprised to see him alive and somewhat well. He looked up from his ECHO datapad, looking confused at first. I threw my backpack in the corner and walked over to him.

"Nova... You're back already?" he asked. His voice sounded weak and hoarse. He had dark rings under his eyes and looked pale and he even seemed to shake a little. He definitely wasn't doing well.

"I am. We found all we could on both of them. How are you doing?" I wanted to know. I mean, I could kinda guess from looking at him, but still. I was so glad to see him alive and somewhat sober, at least.

"Not great, but I did bring this on myself. Are you actually here? Because I've had some hallucinations earlier and..."

I interrupted his rambling with a kiss, which wasn't really a very romantic thing, given his current state, but I was just so glad I was back on Pandora and back with Mordecai and we'd make it out of this again.

"Wow. Guess you're real." he said and tried his best to give me a smug grin, but it was more of a weak smile.

"Maybe you should rest. You look like you're about to die." I replied and he laughed, sounding bitter.

"Already tried to get some rest, but I just can't sleep. The worst bit isn't even over yet. The next two or three days won't be fun and they won't be pretty." he replied. I sighed. I knew, it wouldn't be fun, I was there the first time already.

"Do you need anything? More water? Food? Anything else?" I asked him. He shook his head quickly.

"If I drink any more water, I'm probably gonna get sick. Can't keep that down." he said. That was bad. He needed to drink some sort of liquids.

"You can't just go several days without water, Mordecai. You need to keep yourself hydrated. Gimme a second, I might have an idea." I replied and went over to my backpack that I had just thrown into some corner. I had gotten a bunch of different sodas and sweets from Elpis. Maybe Mordecai would like one of those things better than water. Or maybe he'd at least be able to keep one or the other down.

"Here, I got you a few different kinds of soda, how about you try one of them? You might be able to keep them down better than water." I said and brought him five different cans. I had literally just grabbed one of each sort, before we left.

"Soda? I dunno. I'm not thirsty." he said.

"You have to drink something or you'll die from dehydration. No discussion. You'll try and if you can't keep it down I'll get some needles from Zed and you'll get an infusion. You need water in some form." I replied and dropped the cans on the bed next to him. He looked at me like a child that had been forced to finish his meal.

"I'm not getting any damn needles." he mumbled and took one of the cans. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"What are you gonna do about it? Fight me?" I asked. He gave me an annoyed look for a second, but we both knew at the moment he was in no condition to fight me whatsoever. He sighed and opened the can.

"Fine." he muttered before he took a big sip from the can.

"We're all just looking out for you, okay?" I said. He gave me one of his weak smiles again and nodded, when I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. I turned around to the top of the stairs and saw Lilith, Brick, Gaige and Axton coming upstairs.

"Hey, guys. How's Mordy doing?" Lilith asked me. I shrugged.

"He seems to be alright. Considering the circumstances. I hope he can keep all this down, because he needs to drink something." I answered.

"Hey, I'm right here!" Mordecai protested. Lilith rolled her eyes.

"Last time you were right there, you were hallucinating and not making sense whenever I asked you anything." she replied.

"Was I...?" Mordecai said, looking genuinely confused now. Poor thing. Yes, he brought it on himself, but it still wasn't fun seeing him like that. Not when he was the guy who saved my life God knows how many times.

"Yes, you were. Anyways, that's besides the point. We've got some new information, so I guess this is gonna be some sort of informal team meeting." Lilith announced. I sat up, leaning my back against Mordecai's bed. I figured I would probably spend the next week here, trying to help Mordecai detox.

"So what's the news, Lil?" Mordecai asked.

"Athena is on Pandora, apparently. Aurelia is off planet. Your lists actually helped track her down." Lilith said.

"Wait a minute. You tellin' me she's signed up for a competition?" he asked, a smile slowly forming on his lips.

"Yup, that's what I'm saying. There is more, though. Nova talked to Nina on Elpis and she'll help with her foot, but she said she'll only do it, if we're going to amputate the leg from below the knee. So we definitely need more cash and better material."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Mordecai asked, the smile on his face still growing wider.

"Yes, Mordecai, you can go there. And you can take Nova with you. You'll be going together with Gaige and Axton. But under one condition." Lilith said.

"What condition?"

"You'll have to be sober, when you go and you're not touching even one single drop while you're there."

"Already working on it." Mordecai said quickly. Lilith nodded. She didn't look like she was very convinced.

"Alright. That's settled then. You are going off planet, the four of you. Gaige and Axton will go looking for Aurelia and Nova and Mordecai will try to win that thing, so we can buy Nova a new leg. Or you just steal the material, I don't care, just don't get caught, alright?" she concluded. It was a little overwhelming to hear that I was suddenly going to go off planet, but at least Mordecai would come with me this time.

"Alright, but which one are we going to? And what are we going to do until then? How are we getting away from Pandora?" Mordecai asked, his voice getting shaky again. I knew some of that stuff already, but what I really was worried about was how the hell they thought we were going to win any money at all.

I mean, yeah, Mordecai was a fantastic shot, but he hadn't been in competitions for at least ten years now. And I wasn't bad, but I was nowhere near good enough for something like that. Plus, I'd be competing against my own daughter and I still had no clue how the fuck that was supposed to work out.

"You're going to Artemis. There's a good few cargo ships dropping off supplies on Pandora. I was thinking we might be able to hitch rides with them, either via bribing that new Hyperion guy, Henderson, or via faking your identities. And in the meantime... I don't know, we can probably prepare for the mission? Do what we normally do?" she suggested. I saw Mordecai's eyes widen.

"We're going to Artemis? Damn... I mean, I know, I brought it up, but I didn't really think I'd see that place ever again. That's... wow." he replied.

"Hold on a second. Henderson? Saul Henderson?" I asked. I knew I recognized that name from somewhere...

"Yeah, what about him?" Lilith answered. I burst out in laughter. Wasn't it a small world? Or galaxy or whatever?

"That guy used to work at my school back in Aquator before he joined Hyperion. I hung out with him so much whenever I got detention, I'd be surprised if I couldn't bribe him." I told her. Good old Saul had made it off Aquator before me and we were both still alive. What a small world indeed.


	102. Chapter 101 or The Pain of Packing

_song: GRiZ - Good Times Roll_

For some reason packing always seemed the most stressful part of going on holidays. Especially when it was about Mordecai and Brick packing. Weren't girls supposed to be more difficult with that kinda thing? Because for some reason Lilith and I had packed the bulk of our stuff yesterday, it had all fit into our backpacks and we could pack the last few essentials now, while neither Brick nor Mordecai knew where we were going nor for how long. Which was just... incredible to me. Absolutely incredible.

The new Vault Hunters had already gone ahead to Wam Bam Island to meet up with Sir Hammerlock. He had invited all of us to this fertility festival thingy and while I didn't care much about the festival, I did care about going for a swim. Or a lot of swims, because the sun was blazing down on us lately and there was nothing I wanted more than submerging myself in some refreshing, clean water.

 _"Salutations once again! Welcome to Wam Bam Island, Pandora's number one vacation resort. After Lilith and the others arrive, our Fertility Day Festival can begin! Come find me, will you?"_ Sir Hammerlock suddenly announced through our ECHOs. Lilith and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

"Hey, killers - go ahead and get the Fertility fest started without us. Brick's still packing and Mordecai's trying to shove his bird back into its cage." Lilith told them, just as Talon started to screech loudly.

"Talon... Talon! If you get in the cage, I'll feed you a skag head, eh?" Mordecai said, but Talon didn't seem to buy it.

"Where is my tuxedo t-shirt? It's a t-shirt, but it looks like a tuxedo? I wear it for slow dancing." Brick shouted. I cringed inside, because I had seen that shirt around, but Brick wouldn't really like it, if I told him. I gestured to Mordecai to keep quiet about it and hoped, Brick would forget about the shirt.

"Vault Hunter, I'll... get back to you." Lilith said into her ECHO and ended the connection. She was shaking her head on the sofa next to me.

"You think they'll ever manage to be ready on time?" I asked Lilith. She just shrugged and sighed.

"Who knows?" she replied, sounding pretty apathetic at that moment. Sometimes she just seemed to have completely given up on trying to organize the Raiders when there was so much effort involved.

"Okay, I got Talon in the cage. For how many days do I need to pack again?" Mordecai asked, looking at me.

"A week." I told him. I was more than ready for a holiday at the sea at this stage. I mean we had been on holidays not too long ago, but doing nothing all day and waiting for something to happen was more exhausting than fighting Jack, to be honest. I had taken to running in the mornings, just to push my foot to the limit and somewhat get into shape again.

 _"Well met! I've distilled some homemade liqueur. We shall party until the break of dawn, as they say. Let me get the door for you."_ we heard Hammerlock over the ECHO. I really didn't care much about the festival, but goddamn, did I want to finally get into some water. Brick was still looking for his tuxedo shirt and it was kind of breaking my heart, knowing what happened to it in the end.

 _"You guys coming?"_ Gaige echoed us.

"We're gonna take a little longer here. Don't worry about us. Go and have fun." I said to her with a small sigh.

 _"I initially came to the Hedonic Isles to find some rare beasties using Varkid tracking. Say, did you know that this island is said to house a former enemy of Brick, Mordecai and Lilith's? It's enough to... OH DEAR!"_ Hammerlock said and then the connection broke off abruptly. Lilith raised an eyebrow at me.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked, sounding a little worried.

"I don't know. Who's this enemy he's talking about?" I replied, but she only shrugged. Obviously. They had probably made a lot of enemies. Lilith ran over to the ECHO consoles and started checking some stuff.

"Uh, guys? Something just took Hammerlock." she told us.

"So... I can stop packing then?" Brick asked.

"Mordecai? Any ideas?" Lilith said as she turned around from the console. Mordy didn't seem to have too much of a plan.

"Uh... maybe. Look around. Did Hammerlock leave anything behind? Anything with his scent on it?" he suggested.

 _"Hammerlock has left / a large amount of moonshine / distilled it himself."_ Zero said after a short while.

"Perfect. Alright. You gotta get that booze to a Varkid egg. First, find an injector." Mordecai told them.

 _"But... for what?"_ Maya asked. I grinned, because I was pretty certain I knew where this was going and it was a pretty good plan, to be honest.

"Don't worry, just find the thing." he said over the ECHO.

 _"Got one down here!"_ we heard Salvador shout shortly after. I was surprised he had found it so quickly, but then again, this was Pandora and anything was possible. Nothing was too weird for Pandora.

"Good. Now inject Hammerlock's booze into a varkid pod and it'll track the scent for ya." Mordecai told him.

"Using a varkid to track smells? You sure that'll work?" Brick asked.

"No question. Blood did it, and I'm teaching Talon now. In a couple weeks he'll be able to track you and Lilith anywhere." Mordecai answered confidently. Lilith gave all of us a pretty weirded out look.

"Wait, you're teaching Talon to track us?" she said.

"Yeah. Borrow some of your old shirts that you don't use anymore, tear 'em up, give 'em to Talon, so he can track the scent. Like Brick's weird tuxedo t-shirt thing." Mordecai replied laughing a little. Oh no. Brick didn't like that at all and hadn't I called it?

"THAT WAS MY DRESSY CLOTHES!" he protested, looking pretty angry and like he was about to punch Mordecai to an early death, but Mordecai himself seemed pretty relaxed. I mean, we all knew that Brick wouldn't do any harm to him. They were best friends. But it was easy to wind him up and I didn't wanna be there, if he ever lost his temper.

 _"That shirt was kind of a fashion sin, though, Brick."_ Gaige echoed. Brick just started mumbling angrily at the floor.

 _"I think we found a pod..."_ Axton said, before Brick could lay into Gaige about the tuxedo t-shirt incident.

"Alright, now inject some of Hammerlock's booze into the egg. When it hatches, it'll lead you right to Hammerlock." Mordecai told us. There were some varkid noises in the background of the ECHO transmission.

 _"Alright, our son is born."_ Maya announced.

"Damn. Just born, and already blitzed out of its mind." Brick commented. Lilith started laughing loudly.

"That varkid's living the dream." she added.

"Make sure to follow it, see where it leads you." Mordecai told them, effectively changing the topic. While the Vault Hunters (supposedly) followed the drunk varkid, Lilith went over to the cage that Talon was sitting in. He seemed pretty unhappy about being stuck in there and the whole situation in general.

"Awww, I haven't seen Talon since his feathers grew in! Oh my God, he's so cute!" she cooed as she watched the bird with big eyes.

"He's not cute, he's a badass. But yeah. Be gentle." Mordecai told her. I smiled at them and walked over there, too.

"He's a cute badass." I commented and watched Lilith trying to pet Talon through the cage. He made some pleased sounds, as Lilith carefully petted his head. Mordecai smiled to himself, watching them.

"I think he likes you." he said.

"Awww, are you sure? Because heeeee is biting pretty hard... ow ow ow ow ow... he's drawing blood."

"Oh, crap... I'll get him off." Mordecai replied.

"No, he's too cute! Ow, ow, ow! I love him." Lilith said, trying to fake a smile, while she was clearly in a lot of pain. I looked down at my hands and saw a bunch of scars and calluses, both from Talon and Bloodwing.

"He's a moody teenager, Lil, he doesn't mean it." I told her. She nodded, her face distorted from the pain and her hand bleeding.

"You sure you don't want me to take him off you?" Mordecai asked. Lilith nodded, her mouth twisted in pain. Brick was looking at her with raised eyebrows.

"Damn girl, you weird as hell." was all he said.


	103. Chapter 102 or Sober Mordecai

_song: Matthews Southern Comfort - Woodstock_

 _"It appears I'm being dragged through a series of tunnels by some monstrously large beast. A rescue would be appreciated, but certainly isn't mandatory. Circle of life. All that."_ Hammerlock said over the ECHO.

"We can't just take one break without having to fight off some big evil? Goddamn, this was not in the job description." Lilith mumbled.

"True, but I mean, we wouldn't be here, running this city if we weren't the people we are." I replied.

"But we're not even good people. I mean, better than Jack, yeah, but definitely not good." Mordecai replied.

"I haven't done many bad things... I think." I protested. At least, I couldn't think of any right now. That was soon to change, though.

"I mean, you did break into a bank, back in Lynchwood." Lilith said.

"And you introduced Mordecai to Moxxi which was pretty evil in itself." Brick agreed with her. He had a point.

"Not to mention the bandit camps we basically annihilated for shits 'n giggles." Mordecai added. I flinched a little. I mean, yeah, we kinda were bad people, but everyone did that kinda stuff, right? At least most people?

"Yikes, you really know how to make me feel bad about the stuff I've done." I replied. Lilith laughed.

"Don't you worry, we've all been there. We're not good people by any stretch of the imagination, but at least we're trying, right?" Lilith said and shrugged. Brick grinned at me, as if he knew exactly that we were all in the same boat.

"Oh yeah, and remember that one time I almost killed you when you were running away from that bandit camp, because they had tricked you and kidnapped you, after you sold them explosives? Yeah, that was wild." Mordecai added.

"That was when we first met, you douchenozzle." I replied.

 _"Aww, that's like, really cute and all, but something's wrong with our varkid. Looks like he's throwing up or something."_ Gaige said.

"I think you injected him with too much Hammerlock juice - probably why he went crazy. Might wanna go a little easier on the dosage next time. You gotta find another varkid and inject him with some more of Hammerlock's scent." Mordecai replied.

 _"Ugh, really, guys?"_ Axton asked.

"Yup, really. I feel you, I wanna go swimming and chill out, too." I answered. I really wanted to be at the beach right now. I could literally smell the sand and the sea over the ECHO, it was that bad.

 _"Okay, we got another one."_ Maya said.

"Just follow that thing and it oughtta lead you to Hammerlock." Lilith said.

 _"Let's hurry it up, varkid dude. My man's waiting on me."_ Gaige was babbling in the background of the ECHO transmission.

"Do you think she knows that her and Hammerlock will never happen?" I asked the guys. Gaige seemed to really have a thing for him for some reason.

"Don't know and don't care much. She'll find out soon enough." Mordecai commented and threw Talon a piece of meat.

 _"I hope you're all happy we're freeing this place of pirates and varkids before you get here."_ Salvador said.

"Yup, thanks, you're doing a great job. Keep going." Lilith commented. She had gotten a bag of snacks from somewhere and was happily eating away on it. Mordecai was finishing up packing for the trip.

"I can't believe you tore up my tuxedo shirt, Mordy." Brick complained quietly from his corner. Mordecai shrugged.

"I've done you a favour, man." he replied.

"But I liked that shirt!"

"You would have punched stuff in it and would have ruined it anyways! I was just sparing you the pain of being responsible for ruining it yourself." Mordecai said and put his bag on top of Talon's cage.

 _"Guys, the varkid seems to be... gone?"_ Gaige echoed us, interrupting the shirt discussion. Thank God.

"Looks like it crawled into that tunnel thing. See if you can find a way to follow him." Mordecai said, glancing at the ECHO console. He had an insanely good eyesight and it surprised me every single time.

"That's definitely a transit tunnel, but it's powered down. Maybe check out the waterwheel they got - if you get that running, it'll turn on the power." Brick added. Lilith was looking around for something.

"Hey guys, where is Mordecai's rakk ale? I can't find-"

"I threw 'em out." Mordecai interrupted her quickly. She seemed surprised, even though she had been there. She probably didn't believe he was serious this time. Just like I didn't believe he was serious all the times before. Brick was laughing a little.

"What? You quit drinking? For real this time?" he asked and laughed again. Mordecai looked a little embarrassed.

"Yeah. Can't raise Talon, while I'm half in the bag, y'know?" he replied sheepishly. I threw a pack of ammo at Brick, so he'd stop laughing. On the one hand, because he was being kind of a dick, on the other hand, because I was scared it would undermine Mordecai's effort to quit, if Brick made fun of him.

"Awwwwww, that is so cute! You put the needs of little Talon before your - OW! He's biting me again. Ow, ow, OW!" Lilith replied.

"Talon! Bad!" Mordecai told the bird. Talon looked at him defiantly, but left Lilith alone. She held her hand.

"Guys, you all knew this. You were there, don't you remember?" I asked them in disbelief. Lilith shrugged.

"Yeah, but Mordecai has said so many times he'd quit and he never ACTUALLY quit. So I figured he was just saying it. Didn't think he would actually go through with it like that." she answered. Brick nodded, a sheepish expression on his face.

"Yeah, sorry for laughing, man. It's really awesome you threw everything out and are going to stop. I just didn't know you were serious this time." he added. Mordecai still looked a little embarrassed, but smiled at them.

"Thanks, guys. Means a lot you're with me on this." he replied. I kissed the top of his head happily. The fact he managed to stop drinking just made me feel really proud and the fact that we had all become such good friends over the years made me really emotional. I felt like I might start crying.

Mordecai gently pulled me on his lap and kissed my cheek, which made me blush a little, especially since I could hear Lilith and Brick awwwing at us. Neither Mordecai nor me were much into PDAs, but I guess today was an exception.

"This one here had to watch out for me so many times when I was drunk and when I had withdrawal symptoms. Wouldn't be fair on her to drink myself to death, either." he told them. I blushed violently.

"WHY are you so goddamn cute?" Lilith said, with a big smile on her face. I was shaking my head.

"Your lady's blushing, Mordecai." Brick commented.

"I'm not used to getting compliments in public, okay?" I mumbled, my cheeks still burning. This was terrible.

"That's kinda sad, you know." Lilith commented.

"Yeah, well, nothing much I can do, I guess. Anyway. How about we head over there, now that we're finished packing. I mean, we can just sit down in a nice holiday home and chill out while the other guys find Hammerlock for us." I suggested. Thankfully I could feel the blood slowly leaving my head. Soon my face would look normal again, or so I hoped. Lilith nodded at what I said.

"That actually sounds like a good idea. I could do with a change of air." she replied and grabbed her bag.

"Yeah, let's go." Mordecai agreed.

"I'm not even done packing yet!" Brick protested. Lilith and I simultaneously rolled our eyes. I mean, how long had they known about this? For at least three weeks. How they hadn't managed to pack yet was beyond me.

 _"So, looks like Crazy Earl has a holiday home here as well and he won't let us use his waterwheel thing, unless we kill some pirates for him or something. Point is, we're gonna be a while, so if you wanna come and pop down in the meantime..."_ Gaige said to us over the ECHO.

"Of course he has a holiday home there." Lilith mumbled and shook her head.

"Cool, we'll be on our way. At some stage." I echoed back, watching Brick frantically packing.


	104. Chapter 103 or Son of Crawmerax

_song: Monolink - Father Ocean_

I almost couldn't believe how nice the little holiday homes were. They were nicely coloured wooden houses that looked really cozy on the inside. I hadn't had such a luxurious place to stay since I made it to Pandora.

Lilith had barely relaxed at all, since we got here. She was already rummaging around and talking to the Vault Hunters again. They had apparently managed to restore the power and could follow their drunk varkid through the tunnel now.

"Cool. Sounds like that powered up the transit tunnel. Just head through there and you should be able to reach your booze-sniffing varkid on the other island." Lilith told them and sighed. She sounded pretty stressed out.

"I just realized. You ever watch these animated ECHO series about dudes with swords? They always eventually do an episode where they just go to the beach and hang out. This is like our beach party episode, isn't that - isn't that cool?" she said, sounding a little too enthusiastic about this.

"No. No, it is not." Mordecai deadpanned and looked at her as if she was out of her mind. It was weird to hear Lilith not be serious for a while.

 _"I dunno, those episodes are pretty cool."_ Gaige said.

"Thank you. Finally someone who appreciates the finer things in life." Lilith replied. The ECHO connection seemed to get a bit wobbly. They had to be on their way down the tunnel at this stage.

"Oooooh. Pretty." Brick suddenly said, looking at the video transmission. We ran over and huddled around his ECHO to see what was going on. The Vault Hunters were down by the tunnel and it was a pretty amazing view. It was a glass tunnel and you could see all kinds of fish swimming above you. It was really pretty indeed. Brick looked around at us and just coughed quickly.

"I mean. You know." he added.

"Oh come on, Brick. It is really pretty. Nor harm admitting it." I said.

 _"Quick update: I'm being tied up by the psycho villagers of the isles. You won't believe it, but I believe I'm to be sacrificed to the SON OF CRAWMERAX!"_ Sir Hammerlock suddenly echoed us.

"The fuck is Crawmerax and who's his son?" I asked.

"Oh, right. You never met Crawmerax. He was a bigass crabworm we fought after ganking General Knoxx." Brick replied.

"Man, we killed him so many times. Ahhh, the memories." Lilith added with a pretty satisfied sigh.

 _"We found our varkid again!"_ Maya exclaimed suddenly. They made their way through another gate and followed the tunnel.

 _"If you wouldn't mind hurrying, Vault Hunters, I believe these savages are attempting to summon the Son of Crawmerax as I speak."_ Sir Hammerlock updated us on the current situation, just as the Vault Hunters got to the elevator back up.

 _"Hey, man, don't call me a savage!"_ someone protested in the background.

 _"Oh, you speak English? I thought..."_

 _"I graduated from Eden-4 Megaversity with honors. Check your privilege, dick."_

We all just looked at each other, before we burst out in laughter. I had no idea what exactly we laughed about, but just the fact one of the people on Pandora had actually graduated from university was wild.

The Vault Hunters stepped out of the elevator and walked up to a door that their varkid was standing in front of. He didn't look too good. The sign on the door said something about "Going Native Safaris".

"Looks like your dosage mighta still been too high. I dunno. Honestly, just making this part up as I go." Mordecai said and snickered a little. I laughed and was shaking my head. This was one of those wild situations again that no one would ever believe us when we'd tell them. A varkid tracking someone with booze.

"Alright, the varkid should be somewhere on this island. Just find it and it'll lead you to whatever the hell took Hammerlock." Mordecai told them.

 _"Another pod? Seriously?"_ Salvador asked. They ran off, looking around for a varkid pod, but there was only on the other side of the small lake.

"Ah, damn. You better find another way across." Mordecai cursed, when he saw that their way was sort of blocked off. It thankfully didn't take them too long to find a bridge across the lake and they managed to take out the savages pretty easily on their way there. Maybe it just seemed like it, since I was kind of busy trying to sort some stuff on my datapad in the meantime and that took a bit of time.

"Cool, that looks like a big one! Inject that egg with Hammerlock's scent and the varkid should lead you right to our moustachio friend." Lilith said, which made me pay more attention to what was going on again. Krieg injected the next varkid pod and shortly after the varkid hatched, absolutely shitfaced.

"Awesome. Just follow him to Hammerlock." Lilith told them. The varkid that had hatched was massive.

 _"Bizarrely, the son of Crawmerax hasn't harmed me. Mayhaps it merely wants vengeance on the Vault Hunters who killed his father."_ Hammerlock quickly informed us. I looked down at my data pad and the quarantine notice I had just gotten.

"That's too bad, because the island over there is under quarantine. No way we can get there right now." I said to Lilith.

"Well, the resort owners just quarantined the island, so he'll have to settle for dying at the hands of a totally new group of Vault Hunters." she informed Hammerlock matter-of-factly. It almost sounded like Lilith had finally reached the point where she didn't care anymore, which was exactly what she needed for this vacation. Mordecai, who was still watching the video transmission, suddenly slammed his fist on the table.

"Crap! The conditioning wore off. Kill the varkid, it's no good as a bloodhound anymore." he shouted into the ECHO.

 _"Aw, the poor thing."_ Gaige mumbled as she hit it over and over with her shotgun. It was a bloodbath.

"Hey, guys. Remember that ledge in Crawmerax' lair?" Lilith suddenly said. A smile spread over Mordecai's face.

"Oh man, the ledge." he said, laughing quietly to himself. I looked at them, my eyes probably changed to giant question marks at this stage. I didn't even know they fought some Crawmerax dude.

"Yeah, we could shoot him from there, but he couldn't hit us. So good, so good." Lilith explained and grinned.

"Ahhh, the guns." Brick said happily.

 _"So, I think we're there. There is some sort of drawbridge and..."_ Maya started, but was interrupted by a loud sound.

 _"So, Axton just lowered the drawbridge. And it looks like... oh damn."_ she continued. I looked at the video transmission again and there was a massive platform, looking kind of like an arena with Sir Hammerlock tied up to some poles.

 _"Hi ho! Seems I have to be sacrificed to this beast. Could you look down below for some sort of crank, mayhaps? Something to lower me to the ground?"_ he said with a polite smile on his face. This looked pretty bad.

 _"Yeah, Krieg and Axton are gonna jump down there and have a look."_ Maya answered immediately.

 _"YOU OKAY DOWN THERE?"_ she shouted over the ledge. It looked like Axton shrugged at her and made some gestures.

 _"I dunno. There is a crank there, but it doesn't do anything. At least I don't see anyone that could be Crawmerax or his son or whatever. Maybe that guy wants to fight all of us or something?"_ Axton replied. I could hear Maya sigh.

 _"Everyone, let's jump down there and see if this guy will show up or something. I really just want some vacation."_ she said and jumped off the ledge. Everyone else seemed to follow her. The lower platform looked bigger and was surrounded by water. Axton turned some sort of wheel and something big moved in the water. It suddenly jumped out towards the platform.

 _"Oh, how gorgeous! Look upon the majesty of the Son of Crawmerax!"_ Hammerlock exclaimed. It was a massive crabworm. The Son of Crawmerax was a huge, massive crabworm. To be fair, he looked pretty impressive, his shell being all in bright orange and blue colours and one of his claws alone was at least twice as big as an actual person. But I couldn't get over the fact he was a damn crabworm.

 _"Ah, perhaps you should deal with this beast before you tend to me!"_ Hammerlock remarked. Yeah, no shit.


	105. Chapter 104 or The Beach Party Episode

_song: Madonna - La Isla Bonita_

"You know, this is finally some good, relaxing holidays." Mordecai commented, as he laid down in a hammock he had brought from Sanctuary. He had put it up between two palm trees, half in the sun and half in the shade and looked happy as could be.

I kinda wished I had thought of something like that, but to be honest, I wouldn't even know where to get a hammock. I didn't even know Mordecai owned one, although he definitely was the type of person for it. He also was the type for the terrible Hawaii shirt that was way too big on him, but somehow still looked good.

"I literally can't really bring myself to care what the other guys are doing. I had no idea how much I needed this break." Lilith said, putting on a pair of sunglasses and leaning back on her elbows to enjoy the sun.

"That's the spirit." I said while I was fiddling with my bikini top under my towel. I really should have gotten changed back at the holiday home, but I couldn't be bothered and now I had this awkward towel mess to deal with.

"You okay over there?" Mordecai asked, looking at me, just as I finished untangling the straps. I was really glad I had managed to scavenge this thing on time from one of the latest Hyperion convoys. Poor girl whose bikini top I stole, but it had to be done. I had the shorts for ages and never really used them, so I was pretty happy I could just combine the two, even though it was mismatched.

"Actually, I am okay, yeah." I told Mordecai and dropped the towel. I felt a little odd, because my stretch marks were somewhat visible on my hips, especially since I had tanned so much on Pandora. But hell, I mean, I had been pregnant after all, I was allowed to have some stretch marks on my skin.

I could feel them looking at me and it made me pretty insecure. I had no idea what they were looking at. I mean, Lilith had her own small stretch marks, they just weren't as noticeable, because she also had her tattoos and she was a good bit paler than me. I noticed Mordecai taking off his goggles and looking at me.

"Oh my God, guys, is there something wrong with me?" I asked. This was making me pretty nervous.

"I dunno, can you come a little closer?" Mordecai asked with a big grin on his face. It took me a while to get it and I did blush when it finally clicked. I wasn't used to compliments at all anymore. I mean, people used to call me hot and all constantly, back on Aquator. But that was basically because I was so used to showing myself off.

Pandora was different. On Pandora I needed to wear protective clothing, because this wasn't a luxurious vacation resort planet for rich people that had too much cash to throw around and where you could get by if you just showed off your body. Unless you were Moxxi, of course, but even Moxxi had other skills.

"Damn, girl, what else were you hiding from us?" Lilith commented with a grin. I was shaking my head.

"I haven't been hiding anything. It's called practical clothes. And speak for yourself, Lil." I replied. Lilith laughed, while my face went back to its normal colour.

"Only messing with you. But seriously, considering you've had a child and all, that's pretty impressive." she replied.

"That was like... a million years ago. And I guess the heat and the lack of junk food on Pandora did the rest for me. But seriously, when you all looked at me, I thought there was something seriously wrong with me. I mean, except my crippled foot." I said. Mordecai just shook his head quickly.

"No, why would there be something wrong? I've seen you like that about a million times. Don't worry, you're hot." he replied. It was kind of an awkward way of saying it, but it was cute and it made me smile. I mean, no one had called me hot on Pandora for... maybe eight or nine years since I had gotten here.

"Thanks, Mordy. Anyone going for a swim with me?" I asked. Lilith got up from her spot on the beach.

"Hell, yeah. I'm with you." she said. I looked at Brick and Mordecai. Brick was just shaking his head.

"I'm gonna soak in the sun for two hours, then we'll talk." was all he said. Mordecai looked somewhat indecisive.

"Uh... you go on ahead, I'll catch up with you in a bit." he told us. I shrugged and grinned at him, as he was shifting around in his hammock.

"Okay then. Whatever you say. Come on, Lil, let them be boring over there." I replied and quickly walked towards the water. I had been waiting for this moment, since we had set foot on the island. The sea just looked amazing and I was more than ready to just dive in and enjoy the feeling of clean water on my skin. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't deny that I was born and raised on Aquator.

Lilith closely followed me, but slowed down when we got to the actual water. I just ran right into the sea, quickly diving in, so I could get used to the temperature. Lilith looked at me questioningly.

"What's up? Come on in, girl! It's amazing!" I shouted, diving under the surface, soaking my hair with sea water.

"Is it cold?" she asked. I laughed and rolled my eyes. I should have known that that was what she was worried about.

"It's fiiiiiine!" I assured her. It was actually kinda cold at the beginning, but I knew she wouldn't get in the water if I told her that.

"I dunno..." she mumbled. I squinted at her and saw someone coming up behind her. Mordecai. Mordecai running at full speed right in Lilith's direction. I grinned when I realized what his plan was.

"Don't worry! Take your time if it's too cold for you." I replied. She looked up at me in confusion, at just the right moment. Mordecai ran into her and made her fall into the water face flat. All I could hear was a loud shriek and splashing water. I swam over to them, a big grin on my face. Lilith would be furious, but it was just too funny.

Mordecai was laughing his ass off while Lilith was gasping for air and breathing heavily. She wiped some of her hair out of her face quickly and rubbed her eyes before opening them and looking straight at Mordecai.

"You fucking asshole!" she shouted. I just couldn't hold back any longer. I blurted out laughing and couldn't stop.

"Oh, come on, Lil. At least you're in now. It's not even that cold." he said, still laughing. I swam over to him and high-fived him.

"Oh my God. Nova? Were you in on this, too?" she asked, still gasping for air. She slowly went back under the water.

"Kinda." I replied and shrugged.

"Betrayal..." she mumbled. I grinned and splashed some water on her face. She closed her eyes out of instinct and tried shaking the water out of her hair. I would have almost felt sorry for her, except... I didn't. We were on holiday. We were supposed to have fun and if Lilith would only have fun while killing me, then so be it. Girl deserved it after the whole mess she had been through.

 _"So, uhm, guys. We'll be kinda late to the beach."_ Maya told us over the ECHO. I had completely forgotten to take the thing off before I ran into the water, but it was good to know they seemed to be 100% waterproof.

"What's keeping you? Need any help?" I asked, praying they'd say no, because I really didn't want to leave to go and fight something and get covered in blood and entrails. Not for another week.

 _"I think someone send assassins after us, so we're trying to find them before they find us. Anyways, seems whenever we find one, they're already dead somehow. It's weird. We don't need any help right now, though, just letting you know."_ she answered. I sighed a relieved sigh, when I heard that.

"Yikes. That sounds weird. Well, see you later then, I guess." I replied. It was weird to me that someone would hire actual assassins on Pandora. Most people just waited and hoped time would do its work.

 _"Yeah. We'll be down there soon, I hope. See you."_ Maya said. Lilith and Mordecai came swimming over to me.

"They coming or what?" Lilith asked. I shrugged.

"They're taking care of some assassins someone sent after them. Said they're running late." I told her.

"They okay?" Mordecai wanted to know. I just nodded.

"Yeah. Apparently someone else is taking care of the assassins for them, so that's interesting. They have no idea who it might be, though. But they'll be fine." I explained quickly.

"Now. I think Mordy hasn't been diving enough, yet. What do you think, Nova?" Lilith asked with a grin. I looked over at him and nodded.

"Yeah, I agree. You take the right, I take the left?" I said.


	106. Chapter 105 or Messages From The Past

_song: Flatsound - I Exist I Exist I Exist_

I was looking down at my ECHO device. I had passed on the messages that Saul Henderson and I had sent each other. Lilith was probably just reading through them. It had been about a week since we got back from our vacation and since then all we had done was prepare for this sharpshooting competition.

We had signed me and Mordecai up, we had been looking to contact cargo ships and I had been working on sweet talking Saul into helping us get off this planet. Gaige had been digging through some ECHOcasts and had been sending me a ton of videos from that, I didn't even know what they were about.

At the moment, I was lying on the mattress in our apartment, wallowing in self-pity. I didn't even have a particularly good reason for that. Maybe because it was a long day. Maybe because talking to Saul threw me back violently to about 15 years ago, when I left Aquator. Maybe because I was on my own right now, since Mordecai was still out training Talon. Who knew. It was just one of those days.

I looked back over my conversation with Saul Henderson. I hadn't seen the guy since he left Aquator about three years before I left for Pandora. Weird being on different sides of the fence now. I closed my eyes for a second and felt my shoulder hurt like hell from all the target practice I had done today. Not to mention my foot.

I opened my eyes again with a sigh and focussed on the messages. I felt like they were pretty cringeworthy, but it seemed to make Lilith happy that I had gotten what we wanted, so it was alright I guess.

 _Hey Saul, didn't hear from you in ages. I've been told you're orbiting Pandora right now, that true?_

 **Nova! Haven't heard anything from you since you left Aquator. I figured you might be dead or something. And yes, I'm on Helios station right now. Why are you asking?**

 _Cause I'm kinda stuck on Pandora and some friends and I need to take care of some business on Artemis. You wouldn't know of any cargo ships going that way and could help us get passage on them?_

 **What kind of friends are we talking here? You're not with those Crimson Raiders, are you?**

 _Uh... maybe?_

 **You know I can't do that. At least not officially. Why are you with those terrorists anyways?**

 _They're not terrorists. They've been good to me. They're my friends. And besides, you still owe me for ditching me for my prom. You know, since you went to work for Hyperion and all._

 **That was years ago!**

 _And I've got dirt on you. A whole lot of dirt._

 **Fine. I'll see what I can do. There should be a ship going to Artemis next month. You can't go under your real names. Make up some convincing backstories. And don't drag me into this, alright?**

 _Sure thing. Thanks a million, Saul. You're a star._

 **What business do you have on Artemis anyways?**

 _Sharpshooting competition. I need some cash to get a prosthetic leg._

 **You? In a sharpshooting competition? Can you even hold a rifle?**

 _I've learned a good deal of new skills on Pandora, let's just leave it at that. Talk to you later. Thanks again._

I couldn't believe I actually had to pull the prom card. I mean, I wasn't even that upset. I'm not sure if I actually graduated, since I never went to my ceremony. But Saul didn't know that. All he knew was that he had promised that one girl that constantly got in trouble to go to prom with her and then he left three years before said prom (and just about when I got pregnant, so there's that).

I decided I'd go and maybe watch one of the videos Gaige had sent me. Mordecai should be back soon, but I still had a good while to go. There was nothing else I could really do at the moment anyways. Mordecai and I hadn't really bothered finding furniture after all, considering we hadn't even spent much time in the place.

The video I clicked was something about adoptive parents and stuff. I figured I might be able to get some different viewpoint on the whole situation with my daughter from that. Who knew what wisdom there was in this video. I hadn't really bothered reading what it was actually about, so I got a massive shock when the picture that popped up was two girls sitting in front of a camera and talking.

One of them was tall and lean. She had long and curly blonde hair and was wearing a blood red blouse that was really wide and baggy on her. The other one had shoulder-length dark hair. Extremely curly. A slight tan, almond shaped eyes, a big toothy smile. She was wearing a sweater of the People's Liberation Army.

 _"Hey guys! Welcome back to my personal ECHOcast! I'm Nadia, working for the Vladof marketing team, and with me today is - yet again - my best friend and roommate, Anouk!"_ the blonde girl said. I nearly hyperventilated and quickly paused the video. I went into my messages with Gaige.

"Gaige, what the actual hell! Why didn't you prepare me for this? I just almost died, randomly seeing Anouk there." I sent to her.

 _"I only figured out myself a few days ago! I actually love her ECHOcasts though. The blonde one's, I mean. I've been following her for ages. Go listen to it, it's pretty cool."_ Gaige replied promptly. I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. I was kinda curious, so I went back to the video and hit play.

 _"Hi everyone!"_ Anouk said and smiled shyly. It didn't seem like she was too used to doing these ECHOcasts.

 _"So, some of you may know that Anouk here was actually born on Aquator and was adopted by her parents as a baby. And some of you have been asking to have her talk about that a little. So here we go! What's it like being adopted?"_ the girl named Nadia said with a laugh. Anouk was smiling into the camera and hid her hands inside the sleeves of her sweater. She looked nervous.

 _"Uhm... well, I mean, I've been adopted as a baby, so I can't really remember anything else. It's not like I feel any different or anything. It's nice to know someone actually chose me as their child, to be fair."_ Anouk replied. I was watching the whole thing with my mouth open. I was pretty scared of what would be said in that video.

 _"Is there anything you wish was different? What about your biological parents? Do you know anything about them?"_

 _"I don't know much. My biological mother has left me a small box with some pictures and all, but I haven't been able to find out a lot about her. I know nothing about my father. All I know is that my mother is from Aquator and had some trouble with Hyperion lately. There are some bits leading to Aquator, obviously, and some that lead to Elpis and Pandora, but I couldn't really find many definitive things."_

 _"Do you have any idea why she gave you up for adoption? Any theories?"_

 _"No. No clue. I mean, I kinda hope that she gave me up, because she just didn't have the means to take care of me or something, but really there are so many possibilities. She could be some drug addict, she could have just not wanted me, she could have been raped, I mean, who knows? I've been thinking about this a lot and I came up with so much scary stuff, I'm actually not sure if I want to know. Like, if it's something really bad, you know?"_

 _"Would you ever like to find her?"_

 _"I'm honestly not sure. This is a really difficult one. On the one hand, definitely. I've always wondered where exactly my roots are, who my biological family is, what they are like, why they gave me away. On the other hand, it's kind of a scary thought, because I have no idea what I'll find. I mean, what if my mother just... I don't know, hates me or something? She couldn't care less about me for all I know. But then again, she could be wondering about the same things right now, so... uh... mum, if you're out there and wanna talk to me... I'd be up for it. I think."_ Anouk said with a small laugh and I felt my eyes watering. I should have been looking for her so much earlier. I honestly felt like a terrible person for trying to forget about her.

 _"Here's the picture that Anouk has of her mum, so if anyone knows anything, send a message or leave a comment, guys! So how have you been trying to find out about your roots?"_ Nadia asked her. There was a picture of 16-year old me, in a long summer dress, my dark hair straightened and without all the dreads and braids.

 _"Well, I've been begging my parents for ages to take me to Aquator for a holiday and I've been there pretty regularly since I was 14. Spending some time there definitely helped me find some sort of identity for myself, even if it might not actually be the background I came from. And then I've been trying to find information wherever I could, but I already mentioned that. I might try looking a bit closer into the stuff I found about Pandora soon. But that's really all I can do."_ she said. I paused the video. I was in tears and I had just heard someone at the door. Mordecai was back and I was glad, because I really needed someone right now.


	107. Chapter 106 or Boot Camp

_song: Jukio Kallio, Joonas Turner - Where The Guns At_

"Missed! Do it again. You need to account for the wind." Mordecai told me. I took a deep breath. We had been outside for hours now, shooting targets from varying distances and with different guns and whatnot. It was like Mordy had been trying to make it extra difficult for me. This was the third day in a row we were doing this.

Sometimes I thought he was trying to make things as difficult as possible just to annoy me. I didn't even know what exactly I had signed up for, but I was already regretting my choices. I stretched my arm while Mordecai went to set up the target again.

He had been constantly on my back about safe gun handling as well and it was seriously annoying, because this was fucking Pandora. No one handled anything safely. Guns were the last thing that were handled safely on this planet, but Mordecai insisted that the judges would watch out for that.

"What are we even training for right now, Mordy?" I asked and looked up at the hot sun burning down on us. It was super warm and I could do with a break, but he wasn't having any of that. From what I understood we would do one big thing as a team and then we were each signed up for other disciplines.

"This is for precision rifle shooting. We're both signed up for that, but individually. No big terrain or anything, but it's long range. You have to consider the ballistics, when you shoot." he explained, as he made his way back. It was then that I wished I had paid more attention to physics in school, instead of just to the engineering side.

"How do you know all this stuff?" I asked him. My head was already hurting from everything that I had been drilling into it all this time. Mordecai smiled at me. It was like he was a different person, being all professional and training me for this competition. Like, he just knew everything.

"Practice. Lots of practice. Experience. I've more or less made a living through those competitions, before I came to Pandora." he replied.

"I don't even know what half the stuff I'm signed up for means." I said with a sigh and sat down, my Vladof rifle across my lap with the safety on, so Mordecai wouldn't give out to me about it. He sat down with me.

"You want me to explain it again?" he asked. I nodded.

"Please. I've got so much new stuff in my head, I probably only remember about half of what you told me. All I ever learned about guns on Pandora was that you should always have one on you and some more around you, how to hold and fire them, how to reload as quickly as possible and to go for the head." I replied.

"That's all you need to know on Pandora. But not when you're doing a competition on Artemis. Those people do nothing but practice shooting all day long. If they have the money for it. There will be some with high tech equipment, but only a few are actually talented enough. You're good long range and out in the field, that's why I signed you up for things that are closer to that." he started.

"Then why do you always complain about how I'm shooting?"

"Because you have to practice, practice, practice. And work on your technique. They give points for all that and they can deduct points if you mess up. We're teaming up for tactical sniping and multigun. I think we'll do best in those anyways, it's closest to what we do here on Pandora all the time."

"Do we get to shoot bandits?"

"No. Just targets. They're easier to hit, than bandits, because they don't run. In tactical sniping we have a certain terrain and we do targets that are between 10 and 1000 meters in distance. We have to move around quickly and within a certain time limit to get in position. All we use is a sniper rifle, but we can work together. It'll be fun. Firearm safety is a pretty important point there, the judges are really picky about that." he explained matter-of-factly.

"Okay. We've done that loads of times. And the multigun is the same, just with different gun types?"

"Exactly. Usually snipers, SMGs, pistols. Sometimes shotguns. You should do good with that, you're pretty good at judging distance and switching weapons quickly." he said. I smiled at him. It had been a long day of hearing exactly what I missed and how I had moved my rifle the wrong way and whatnot. It was good to hear that I was doing good at something, at least. Target practice was tougher than it sounded.

"Okay, and what do I need to do on my own?" I asked. I was kinda nervous thinking about it. Mordecai was used to these competitions, he knew how things worked, what happened at them, what he had to do. For me all of that was completely new. I had no idea what all the disciplines even were.

"Extreme Long Range, Ultimate Long Range and precision rifle shooting. Extreme and Ultimate Long Range are just long range shooting competitions, with different kinds of distances. What we're doing now is good training for that as well. Precision Rifle Shooting is the same thing, but your speed counts, too." he explained.

"That sounds exhausting." I commented with a sigh. Mordecai laughed and looked at me. I couldn't really define what kind of look it was, but it was good, like he was proud of me just being me.

"It is a sport after all." he said and got up again. I knew what he was going to say next and I was dreading it.

"Come on. Break's over. The target's over there, I'm timing your shot. Try not to miss, alright?" he said. I sighed.

"Fine."

I got down on the ground, positioned my rifle, loaded it with a cartridge and aimed. Only when the target was in my field of view, I put my finger on the trigger (this one I really had to get used to). I breathed in, held my breath for a few seconds and carefully pulled the trigger. I looked up from the scope and could just about make out where the bullet was going. I had actually managed to hit the target.

"That was good! But not good enough. You hit the target, but you need to hit it closer to the bullseye. But that was good. Try again." Mordecai said. I didn't even bother to complain. I knew we had to win at least something, so I could get a new leg. I repeated the same procedure again and this time hit closer to the middle. I didn't even wait until Mordcai said anything and reloaded my rifle again.

"That was really good! Almost perfect. Say, would you mind signing up for one more thing?" Mordecai asked. I shrugged while I aimed again. I knew I wouldn't get another break so quickly after the last one.

"On the last day they usually have a sniping squad contest. Over the course of the whole competition you have to find some more people to make a squad. There's usually only around five or six squads in the end, but it's really good. Whatcha think?" he explained. To me that sounded just like what we did all the time.

"Sounds good to me. Do we sign up when we have our team or how does it work?" I wanted to know. I breathed in, held my breath and shot at the target. Close, but not good enough. I breathed out.

"Yup, that's how it works. How many shots did you fire?" Mordecai replied.

"Four. This is my fifth." I answered without looking up. I needed to get at least three or four good ones in this set of ten or Mordecai would make me shoot until it was getting dark again. And I was already tired.

"Good. Five more after this one and we'll take a look at the target." he said. I pulled the trigger and managed to hit the middle again. Shooting bandits was much easier than this. Yes, they were moving targets, but no one cared about your technique or about which spot of their heads you had hit in the end. Not as long as they were dead.

 _"Guys, when will you be back? I've got your tickets for the cargo ship here and I'd like to go through your fake backstories with you at some stage."_ I heard Lilith's voice over Mordecai's ECHO.

"Shouldn't be much longer. We'll be back before it gets dark, don't worry. Nova's getting pretty good, so we should be able to cash in quite a bit on Artemis." Mordecai told her. I pulled the trigger again. Another good hit! And we were going to go back soon. Thank God. My shoulder was hurting more and more from putting up with the recoil of my Vladof rifle for hours at this stage.

"Four more left and I think I have three really good ones." I told Mordecai with a smile on my face. He smiled back at me and nodded.

"Well, don't miss now or we're doing another round." he said and kept watching me shooting. I was glad he hadn't said a single word about my breathing or my posture so far, because that was another thing he liked to complain about.

"That was four good ones. Three more to go." he said after I shot the next bullet. I was hoping and praying that I wouldn't miss any of those three last shots. The seventh one hit, not perfectly, but close enough. The eighth one was better. The ninth one hit in the middle. The last one was pretty bad, but I still hit the target. Now Mordecai could only torture me with ballistics and adverse weather conditions when we got home.

"Good. Let's pack up for today and head back to Lilith. That last round was really good. I'm proud of you."


	108. Epilogue

_song: Lord Huron - Ends Of The Earth_

This was it. My bags were packed, all the guns I needed (and a few extra ones, just to play it safe) were neatly and safely packed away and I was standing in Tundra Express with everyone else, waiting for our shuttle.

And when I said everyone, I really meant everyone. Lilith and Brick were there, of course, as were Maya, Salvador, Zero and Krieg. Mordecai, Gaige and Axton were standing next to me with their bags packed as well.

Apart from them there were a few more people, though. Scooter was there to say goodbye and so was Moxxi (which was really sweet of her, thinking about it). Even Tannis had made it out of her science cave, but she didn't look like she enjoyed it. Tina was currently hugging Mordecai and wouldn't let go. Even Marcus was there, since we had bought out most of his stock of ammunition. Zed had come to say goodbye and inject me with some weird travel vaccines that I "might or might not need, who knows these days, but better safe than sorry". And last but not least, Claptrap was there, as well.

This was exciting and nerve-wracking and sad and everything all at once. I never felt so torn about leaving a place, even if it was only for about a month (and a half, if you counted travel times).

"Tina, you gotta let go of me. You all need to go before the shuttle comes to pick us up or we'll get in trouble." Mordecai said, but didn't make much of an effort to get her to let go of him. Saul had agreed to get us a shuttle up to the cargo ship, so everyone but us had to be gone by the time the shuttle arrived.

"I don't want you to go. You're, like, my momma, Mordy!" Tina cried. It was pretty heart-wrenching. She had taken to calling Brick her dad, Mordy her mum and me her auntie. It was a little weird at first, but it was easier to just go along with it. Apparently, I couldn't be her mum, because I already had a daughter. Go figure.

"It's okay, Tina, I'll be back. Brick'll take care of you, alright? You can do fun stuff with Brick, like blowing up bandit camps and stuff." Mordecai replied. Tina slowly and hesitantly let go of him. She rocked back and forth on her heels.

"Fine. Don't you be back late, mister!" she told him, looking all serious. Mordecai smiled at her and nodded.

"I won't. Promise."

Next thing I knew, she was grabbing onto my leg. I quickly bend down to give her a proper hug. I didn't realize that I'd miss Tina until now.

"Take care of Mordy for me, auntie. Make him eat food and stuff." she said.

"I will. Don't you worry. And I'll miss you." I replied.

"Yeah, you better!" she exclaimed and then let go of me to run back to Brick and hide behind him. Poor kid. Zero didn't say much in terms of goodbye, he more or less just nodded at us and recited one of his haiku. Krieg was screaming something about salting the wound and I realized I'd even miss the psychos and bandits on Pandora while I was gone.

It was like going away got more and more terrible by the minute. Salvador came over next and did our personal elaborate fist bump ritual. Since Lynchwood all me and Salvador did when we saw each other was a fist bump. We barely even talked, it was like we had some quiet understanding that the fist bump meant respect.

Maya came over to give me a hug next. I had taken to hanging out with her and Lilith for a good while since we killed Jack. She was the most relaxed person in the world, which was probably mostly due to her monastic upbringing. And she enjoyed hanging out with Scooter and me, too.

"Take care of this shithole of a planet, while we're gone, okay?" I said to her. She laughed quietly and nodded.

"Of course we will." she answered.

"Good. Because Pandora is an amazing shithole of a planet."

Scooter came up next with this typical happy and excited expression of his. I could already tell that he had been excited for us all to go to another planet, since we had first mentioned it. He just was that kind of person.

"Man, girl, you gonna get me something cool, yeah? You gotta get me the coolest souvenir you can find, aight?" he said and held out his arms for a hug. I hugged him tight, taking in his scent of metal, motor oil, sweat and dust. I'd even miss the smell of Scooter's little workshop. Goddamn it.

"Of course. I'll get you the most awesomest souvenir ever." I promised. His smile grew even wider.

"Aw, that's mah girl! 'M gonna miss ya, I'll really do." he replied.

"I'll miss you, too, Scooter. Y'all better head soon or we'll get in big trouble." I told him. He nodded and walked back over to the rest of the group.

Not long after that, Mordecai and me were pulled into one of Brick's bear hugs. They were the best hugs, no matter how bone crushing they could get. I wished I had some more time with all of them, but they really had to go, because the shuttle would be here soon. They could easily get away via the Fast Travel station, but it was still better not to risk anything, especially after Saul had made this exception for me.

"I'll miss both of ya. I'll probably run out of stuff to punch, because I'll be bored." Brick said. Mordecai laughed and shook his head.

"How about you try a hobby that doesn't involve punching?"

"And what would that be?"

"I dunno? Knitting, reading? Gardening?"

"I'll see about that." Brick answered with a smile and hugged Mordecai again, before he went back to the others. Only Lilith was left now. I was really hoping she'd be okay, more or less on her own. I knew she was still having nightmares sometimes and I was really worried about her dealing with everything.

"Don't do anything stupid, okay? Make this count, you know how much of a dumbass you can be sometimes. Don't screw this up and regret it for years to come." she told me. I was almost in tears at this stage and this just sent me over the edge.

"You... you know me too damn well, Lil. I'll miss you so much. Take care of yourself." I replied, wiping away a few single tears that had managed to escape.

"I will. Don't worry. Send me updates over the ECHOnet."

"I'll spam you with updates."

"Dumbass."

"Love you, too."

We both laughed and finally hugged. She then turned around, going to the rest of the group that was standing at the fast travel station.

"This is goodbye then. Don't die off planet." Lilith shouted back at us and smiled, just before they all vanished into thin air. I was still wiping away a few tears, but it wasn't as bad as yesterday evening.

"You gonna be okay, chica?" Mordecai asked. I nodded.

"Yeah. I'll be fine." I answered and started wrapping a scarf around my hair and part of my face. Saul had told us to try and hide our faces and to speak as little as possible, so there we were, all of us in baggy clothes and turbans and scarves.

I looked over at Axton and Gaige, who looked wildly different. You could easily see how uncomfortable Axton was, wearing a bunch of scarves, but Gaige had made a complete style out of it and was wearing it like some desert freedom fighter.

"This is gonna be so. Much. Fun. I'm gonna stream the whole journey over the ECHOnet. Oh my God, I'll get sooooo many followers." Gaige said and grinned at us excitedly. I smiled at her and nodded. Yeah, it probably would be fun. I was still feeling nervous and scared about it.

I looked up at the sky and saw some dark spot quickly approaching. That must be the shuttle. I shouldered my backpack and took one of the bags that had my guns in it. The rest of them were in a crate, mixed in with Mordecai's guns.

"Is that them?" Axton asked as the shuttle slowly set down on the ground, a good few hundred meters away from us.

"Looks like it." Mordecai said. Some Hyperion employees came running outside, guns in their hands. It made me nervous that I didn't have a gun of my own ready. Sure, under all my layers of clothing I still had a few knives and one small handgun, but if they decided to shoot us, I'd be dead, before I could get to it.

"We're supposed to pick up four passengers? Your names, please?" one of them asked. I stepped up first, my heart beating fast. I had practiced this so many times, but it was still a fake identity.

"Asha Taven, travelling to see family." I said. They nodded and waved me through. I quickly walked over and into the shuttle. This was it.


End file.
